TDB 'completely satisfied' with SIT probe, hope lost gold will be recovered: P S Prasanth

Pathanamthitta (Kerala) | TDB president P S Prasanth on Friday said that the Board was "completely satisfied" with the ongoing SIT probe into the loss of gold from the Lord Ayyappa shrine in Sabarimala and hoped that the lost precious metal would be recovered and the culprits punished.

Prasanth said that the probe by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) was progressing effectively and the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) has "complete confidence" in it.

The TDB president made the statements while speaking to a TV channel.

He further said that it was the recently arrested former administrative officer B Murari Babu who wanted to handover the gold-plated copper claddings of the 'Dwarapalaka' (guardian deity) idols to Bengaluru-based businessman Unnikrishnan Potty for gold-plating.

The Board has not issued any orders benefiting Babu or Potty, he claimed.

He further said that Babu wanted to handover the claddings to Potty for gold-plating as the businessman had given a warranty regarding it when he had carried out similar plating work earlier in 2019.

"Murari Babu said that the Board will lose lakhs of money if it got the gold-plating done through someone else. So we ordered that thanthri's permission be sought. The thanthri allowed taking away of the idols' claddings to Chennai for electroplating, but not the door frames or other claddings," Prasanth said.

The TDB president later told reporters that it was unfair that the media and the Congress-led opposition were seeking an explanation from the current Board for things that happened in 2019.

He also rejected the allegations against him of amassing disproportionate wealth and claimed he has assets worth a few lakhs only.

Prasanth challenged Leader of Opposition in the state assembly V D Satheesan, who has sought dissolving of the current Board, to disclose his own assets.

Babu, who was suspended by TDB following the gold missing row, was arrested by the SIT on Thursday and remanded to judicial custody.

He is an accused in two cases related to the disappearance of gold from the gold-clad plates of the Dwarapalaka idols and the door frames of the Sreekovil (sanctum sanctorum) of the temple.

In 2019, when the prime accused, Unnikrishnan Potty, proposed electroplating the Dwarapalaka idols to the TDB, Babu forwarded the proposal to the board, claiming that the gold-cladded plates were made of copper.

He reportedly forwarded a similar proposal from Potty again in 2025.

Babu was serving as Deputy Devaswom Commissioner in Haripad when he was suspended from service recently.

The SIT, which is probing the case at the direction of the Kerala High Court, has already arrested Potty.

The loss of gold was revealed when the High Court initiated a plea on its own regarding removal of the Dwarapalaka idols' claddings for gold-plating without informing the court.