The Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) has returned the gold plates of the Dwarapalaka idol to Sabarimala Sannidhanam, just days after the Kerala High Court ordered a probe into a significant discrepancy in their weight. The plates will be reinstalled on the idols once the court grants its permission.
The TDB faced criticism after a special commissioner reported to the High Court's Devaswom bench that the plates had been removed without his consent. Additionally, investigations — ordered by the court — revealed a loss of nearly 4.5 kg of gold, prompting the Kerala High Court to criticise the TDB for failing to report the shortfall.
Records presented to the High Court showed that the copper plates, which had been gold-plated and installed as early as 1999, were handed over to devotee Unnikrishnan Potty in July 2019. Potty had sought and obtained permission, at his own expense, to undertake fresh gold-plating.
The registers noted that 12 copper plates weighing 25.4 kg and two peedams weighing 17.4 kg — a total of 42.8 kg — were handed over to him. However, when Potty later delivered the items to Smart Creations, the eighth respondent in the case, on August 29, 2019, the weight had inexplicably dropped to 38.258 kg.
After the re-plating process, the weight increased to 38.653 kg, However, it still reflected a shortfall of 4.147 kg from the original 42.8 kg.
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