Sabarimala: Court orders document of gold plating in 1998; Accused's claim unfounded
Pathanamthitta: The claim by the accused that there are no records of the gold plating of the Sabarimala sanctum sanctorum in 1998 is weakened by earlier High Court orders. The accused, N. Vasu and A. Padmakumar, stated in their bail applications that the Travancore Devaswom Board does not possess any such records. However, the High Court’s judgments themselves contain detailed references to the work.
In 1998, the Devaswom Board approached the High Court seeking permission to gold-plate the doors and other parts of the Sabarimala sanctum sanctorum. A Division Bench comprising Justice D. Sreedevi and Justice A. R. Lakshmanan considered the petition.
The court granted permission to gold-plate the sanctum doors with ornamental work. Approval was also given to gold-plate wall pillars, solid door frames, the Dwarapalaka statues in front of the sanctum, and the domes of the shrines of subsidiary deities, including Kannimoola Ganapathi and Nagaraja. After completion of the gold plating of the doors and wooden panels, the Devaswom Board informed the High Court. The report submitted by the Board included details of the work. The court also directed that the gold-plated items be reinstalled in their original positions, assigning engineers from the Board’s engineering wing for this purpose. Records related to this were reportedly traced by the Devaswom Vigilance in September and produced before the High Court.
Initially, Vijay Mallya and the Devaswom Board had agreed only to gold-plate the roof of the sanctum. Permission was sought from the High Court for this purpose. Subsequently, the then Board President, V. G. K. Menon, requested Mallya to extend the gold plating to the sanctum and other structures as well.
A letter sent by Vijay Mallya’s UB Group to the Devaswom Board after the completion of the gold plating in 1998 has also come to light.