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The Kerala government has issued an order appointing K. Jayakumar IAS (Retd.) as the President of the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB), Former Minister and MLA Adv. K. Raju has also been nominated as a board member.
The gazette notification confirming their appointments specifies a two-year term starting from November 14. The new appointments follow the completion of the tenure of P.S. Prasanth and Adv. A. Ajikumar on November 13. The appointments come amid heightened political tension over the Sabarimala gold theft case, which recently saw members of the opposition walking out of the state assembly in protest. Leader of Opposition V.D. Satheesan demanded action against the TDB, citing a Kerala High Court observation that a board member had a role in removing the gold from the Sabarimala Ayyappa temple. "The High Court has made it clear that a Devasworm board member definitely had a role in taking the sculpture of Sabrimala Aiyyappa temple to outside ...they knew very well that there was a fraud...the high court made it very clear...that's why we are asking to the expel the Devasworm board...at the same time the Devasworm board minister is also responsible, he has to resign...that is our demand," he said. Unnikrishnan Potti, the prime accused, has reportedly been taken into custody by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) on October 17. The SIT team arrived at Potti's residence in Thiruvananthapuram early today and escorted him to a secret location in Pathanamthitta for interrogation. It is yet to be confirmed whether his arrest has been officially recorded. The SIT is expected to question him about the stolen gold, its whereabouts, and the involvement of other suspected individuals. His arrest is likely to follow the interrogation, followed by a medical examination and court appearance in Ranni (Pathanamthitta). The Kerala Special Investigation Team (SIT) conducted a raid at the Bengaluru residence of Potti Unnikrishnan as part of the ongoing probe. The case gained renewed attention after Unnikrishnan Potti, in the run-up to the TDB-sponsored Global Ayyappa Sanghamam in September, claimed that four gold-plated panels he donated in 2019 were missing. The TDB Vigilance recovered the missing panels from Potti's sister's residence in Thiruvananthapuram, leading the Kerala High Court to order a detailed SIT probe into all TDB transactions involving him. Earlier, the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) president, P.S. Prasanth, suspended Assistant Engineer K Sunil Kumar for his alleged involvement in the Sabarimala gold theft case. Kumar has been named as an accused in the case. (ANI)
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