The Kerala High Court’s division bench of Justice Raja Vijayaraghavan V. and Justice K.V. Jayakumar has instructed the Chief Vigilance and Security Officer (Superintendent of Police) to probe suspected discrepancies in the recorded gold weight of the Dwarapalaka idols of the Sabarimala temple.

Facts:
The alleged loss of gold surfaced during the Court’s consideration of a suo motu petition, initiated on the basis of a Special Commissioner’s report stating that the gold platings from the idols in the temple were removed without prior intimation.

The Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB),(which oversees the administration of the temple and is its governing body responsible for its management) with sponsorship from devotee Unnikrishnan Potty (7th respondent), had sent the items to Smart Creations (8th respondent) for electroplating.

At the 10th September 2025 hearing, the Court had directed the TDB to bring back the gold platings removed but later it permitted the continuation of the repair works. The bench had suo motu impleaded Potty and Smart Creations and had sought production of all records relating to the repair works.

It had also directed the Superintendent of Police, the Chief Vigilance and the Security Officer to seize the entire records concerning the gold-plating/gold-cladding of the Dwarapalakas, the door lintel, the door panel, the Lakshmi Roopam and Kamanam, commencing from the date of the original cladding.

Pursuant to these directions, on 15th September, three sets of mahazar (proof of procedures followed during the investigation) documents were produced by the Executive Officer (5th Respondent) but it was stated that he could not trace out certain mahazars which might shed light on the gold cladding/plating of the copper plates covering the idols.

Time was accordingly given to produce the other mahazars and to ascertain the presence of another set of Dwarapalaka idols in the strong room in Aranmula.

Court Directions:

During the hearing on 17th September, 2025, the Bench noted that the gold weight had decreased by approximately 4 kilograms after the idols were previously entrusted to the seventh respondent.

The bench orally observed that, "We are of the view that the reduction of weight of the gold cladded copper plates, the handing over of the same to the 7th respondent...the delay in production of the gold-cladded copper plate before the 8th respondent, i.e., on 29/8/2019, the description of the gold-cladded copper plate in the mahazar on 19th and 20th July, 2017 as merely "copper plates" instead of "gold-cladded copper plates" all call for a proper and detailed inquiry at the hands of the Vigilance and Security Officer of the Travancore Devaswom. We, therefore, direct the Vigilance and Security Officer (Superintendent of Police) to engineer a detailed inquiry with respect to the above aspects and place a detailed report before us within a period of 3 weeks."

Additionally, the Court instructed that the registers which were placed before it by the 5th respondent shall be returned for conducting a proper investigation.

The TDB was directed to provide all forms of cooperation to the 5th respondent officer to ensure that the directions issued by the Court are taken forward and the truth of the matter is brought to light.

Order Awaited.

CASE DETAILS: Suo Motu v. State of Kerala and Ors. SSCR No. 23 of 2025