Devaswom Vigilance Finds Travel Agencies and Middlemen Behind Bulk Room Bookings at Sabarimala
Thiruvananthapuram: Devaswom Vigilance has found that travel agencies and middlemen were behind the bulk booking of rooms at Sabarimala Sannidhanam, where all 400 available rooms were booked within an hour of the online booking portal opening. The investigation revealed that agencies and intermediaries exploited loopholes in the booking system to reserve large numbers of rooms, leaving many Ayyappa devotees unable to secure accommodation.
The investigation was conducted under the leadership of Vigilance SP V. Sunilkumar following instructions from Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) President K. Jayakumar. Based on the findings, the Sabarimala Special Commissioner will submit a report to the Kerala High Court.
According to the investigation, Chennai-based Sujatha Travel Agency booked 22 rooms each for October 17, 18, and 19 during the first hour of online booking. This accounted for more than five percent of the 400 rooms available per day. Vigilance also identified several instances where 10, 12, and 15 rooms were booked in a single transaction.
Officials observed that genuine pilgrims generally book one or two rooms, while such large-scale bookings indicate the involvement of travel agencies and middlemen. Only a limited number of individual devotees were able to secure rooms through the online system.
Devaswom Vigilance is now attempting to identify those responsible for the bulk bookings by tracing their IP addresses. The IP addresses associated with the bookings have been handed over to the Cyber Police for further investigation.