The High Court, on Monday, ordered a vigilance probe into the alleged misappropriation of gold and cash related to the replacement of the temple flag mast at the Sabarimala temple in 2017. The court ordered that all the files, records, mahazars, accounts, and connected documents relating to the construction and installation of the temple flag mast should be sent to the Director of the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB). 

The Director has been asked to constitute a team of officers to conduct a preliminary enquiry, including recording statements of the donors and examining financial and material records, and to file a report before the Court within 30 days.

The HC called for a vigilance probe based on a report submitted by S Sasidharan, who heads the SIT and the Chief Vigilance and Security Officer (CVO). The HC had in 2016 recorded the submission of the Travancore Devaswom Board that the work relating to the installation of a new flag mast would be undertaken entirely at the expense of Phoenix Infrastructure Pvt Ltd, Hyderabad. The court had

directed that the work shall be supervised by the Thiruvabharanam Commissioner, the Devaswom Chief Engineer (General) and A S P Kurup, Advocate Commissioner, and granted approval for the work to proceed.

The CVO reported that on March 22, 2017, a quantity of 9.161 kilograms of gold was purchased

from the Customs Department.  An estimate for ₹3,20,30,000 submitted by the Devaswom Chief Engineer was approved by the Board on September 23, 2016. 

Besides devotees contributed 412 gms of gold and the quantity of gold utilised for the flag mast was 9340.2 gms. The mahazar dated June 5, 2017 records that an actor and other devotees handed over 80.490 grams of gold to the Advocate Commissioner, which was entrusted to Venkitesh, the artisan. On June 10, 2017, a movie producer and another individual handed over 246.520 grams of certified gold biscuits of 999.9 purity to the Advocate Commissioner, which was in turn handed over to the

Thiruvabharanam Commissioner. Similar entrustments are recorded on various dates in June 2017, with gold being handed over through mahazars.

It has been reported that except for general recitals that gold was donated by devotees, the specific quantity donated by each individual does not find proper reflection in the records. "More importantly, the absence of individual donor receipts renders it impossible to verify the exact quantity donated. The donor is equally left without documentary proof of accounting," the report showed. According to the officers, this constitutes a serious procedural lapse and a grave violation of Devaswom Rules and financial accountability norms.

The CVO submitted that the discrepancies noticed are of a grave nature and warrant a detailed enquiry to rule out offences such as criminal misappropriation, criminal breach of trust, falsification of records, and cheating, punishable under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988. It was further informed that the Devaswom

Vigilance does not possess the requisite resources or investigative wherewithal to conduct a comprehensive enquiry into these aspects.