Kerala Devaswom Minister VN Vasavan and the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) on Monday alleged a conspiracy surrounding the matter of the "missing" gold-coated peedam (pedestal) of the Dwarapalaka (guardian deity) idols at Sabarimala, an item later recovered from the residence of a relative of the sponsor.
Minister Vasavan openly accused the sponsor, Unnikrishnan Potty, of orchestrating a "drama" by concealing the peedam before making the allegation that it had gone missing from TDB custody. "What we understand is that after hiding the peedam, Potty came out with a missing allegation and played a drama. Naturally, we have to suspect whether there is a conspiracy," the Minister told reporters. He added that further action would be determined by directions from the Kerala High Court.
The existence of the peedam came to light recently after the High Court ordered a probe into the reduced weight of the gold-clad copper plates of the Dwarapalakas. Following this, Potty revealed that he had also sponsored a gold-plated pedestal in 2019 during the plating works, which he then claimed was missing from the hill shrine. A TDB vigilance team, led by Superintendent of Police Sunil Kumar, subsequently tracked the peedam down to the house of one of Potty’s relatives in Venjaramoodu.
TDB president PS Prasanth welcomed the recovery but alleged that Potty deliberately misled the public in an effort to tarnish the Global Ayyappa Sangamam. "He lied after knowing that it was in his custody," Prasanth stated. While maintaining the board had nothing to conceal and the vigilance team had acted transparently, Prasanth acknowledged a delay in reporting the matter to the Special Commissioner. "A detailed investigation has to be conducted on Potty. We didn’t even know about the golden peedam until he made the allegation," he added.
Meanwhile, Potty, who is based in Bengaluru, denied any malicious intent. He claimed he was unaware that the peedam was with his worker, Vasudevan, in Kottayam. "Only after media reports about the missing peedam did Vasudevan contact me and tell me it was in his custody. I then shifted it to my relative’s house in Thiruvananthapuram," he said.
Also read: TDB returns Sabarimala Dwarapalaka idol gold plates amid row
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