The Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB), which oversees the administration of the revered Sabarimala Lord Ayyappa temple in Kerala, has taken disciplinary action against one of its senior officials in connection with a major lapse in the temple’s gold-plating project. Deputy Devaswom Commissioner B Murari Babu, who was serving at Haripad, has been suspended following allegations that he made a serious clerical error that contributed to the mismanagement of gold-plated structures within the temple premises. The suspension will remain in effect until a detailed departmental inquiry is completed.
According to official reports, the case pertains to an incident from June 17, 2019, when Murari Babu, then serving as the Administrative Officer at Sabarimala, submitted a report to the temple’s Executive Officer. In his documentation, he erroneously recorded the gold-plated Dwarapalaka idols — the guardian deity figures placed on either side of the sanctum sanctorum — as copper sheets. The TDB characterized this as a “serious lapse,” emphasizing that such an error could not be treated lightly, especially given the temple’s high sanctity and the sensitivity of its assets.
Murari Babu, however, refuted the allegations while speaking to reporters in Alappuzha. He explained that his report had been a preliminary assessment, prepared after consultation with the temple tantri (chief priest) in accordance with the established procedures. He clarified that the surface of the idols appeared to be copper when examined, which led to the description in his report. “In that report, I wrote that it was a copper plate because copper was clearly visible. That is why it was directed to be plated,” he stated, suggesting that his actions had been based on visible evidence rather than any intention to mislead.
This suspension comes at a time when the TDB is already under scrutiny over the larger “Sabarimala missing gold” controversy. The case involves the disappearance of around 4.54 kilograms of gold that reportedly went unaccounted for during repair and gold-plating work undertaken by a Chennai-based firm, Smart Creations. The work had been carried out under the sponsorship of a devotee named Unnikrishnan Potty, further complicating the accountability trail.
The TDB has faced mounting public and media pressure to ensure transparency in its handling of the temple’s assets, particularly in projects involving precious metals and ornaments. The board has promised a full-fledged internal investigation to trace the chain of responsibility and determine whether the error was an honest mistake or part of a broader negligence issue.
The suspension of Murari Babu marks another significant development in the ongoing saga surrounding the Sabarimala temple’s management and the integrity of its administrative procedures. The inquiry is expected to shed more light on how the alleged misclassification occurred and whether it contributed in any way to the reported loss of gold from one of the most sacred temples in South India.
