At a time when the report submitted by the special commissioner on the Ayyappa Sangamam has put the government and the Travancore Devaswom Board under fresh scrutiny, Devaswom Minister V N Vasavan said that no further explanation is needed.

Speaking to the media on Thursday, Vasavan, who had previously asserted that the ₹2 crores drawn from the TDB General Fund for the conduct of the Ayyappa Sangamam was returned, refused to explain the inconsistencies between his claim and the report.

"They have already given the explanations for this yesterday. There is no point in my explaining again," he said, putting an end to his interaction with the media.

He was referring to the press meet held on Wednesday.

Earlier in the interaction, Vasavan once again reaffirmed that the amount had been returned. However, he declined to answer further questions on the matter.

The Devaswom Minister's muted position comes at a time when the Special Commissioner's report revealed that a sum of ₹2 crore drawn from the TDB for the event has not been recouped so far.

The Special Commissioner, ordered by the High Court to audit the transactions relating to the event, also found that the details relating to sponsorship income amounting to ₹2 crore have not been furnished in the report.

This revelation is in sharp contrast to Vasavan's statement in the assembly. On January 28, he stated in the assembly that the amount allocated in the Devaswom board budget was spent for religious conventions as advance expenditure for Ayyappa Sangamam. This was necessary because there was a delay in finding sponsors.

"The amount promised by the sponsors was received later, and it has been deposited back in the account," the Minister's reply shows.

The Special Commissioner counters this statement in the report submitted to the High Court, which also questions the government's claim that state funds were not spent on conducting the event.