A major scandal of stealing gold from Hindu idols have sent shock waves across India after the Kerala High Court revealed that layers of gold plating had been stripped from some idols in a prominent temple in Southern India.
Devotees routinely donate gold and silver used to adorn idols and statues across India. However, news of gold theft from the centuries-old Sabarimala Temple, one of India’s most revered pilgrimage sites visited by millions annually, has shocked worshippers across the country.
The Kerala High Court has formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the case. Police have arrested three people, including a former assistant priest of the temple. A two-member judicial bench has been regularly hearing the case since September.
Located in the hills, the temple is dedicated to the Hindu deity Lord Ayyappa. It previously made headlines a few years ago when it sparked controversy for banning the entry of women during menstruation. The Supreme Court had struck down the restriction as discriminatory, though the ruling’s implementation was later halted following mass protests.
The current scandal centers on two statues known as Dwarapalakas, gatekeepers who stand at the entrance of the main deity’s sanctum.
The court took up the case in September after a special commissioner appointed by it reported that parts of the gold plating on the idols had been stripped off.
Justices Raja Vijayaraghavan V and K.V. Jayachandran said they had examined temple records, pre- and post-restoration photographs, and documents collected by the SIT, which pertain to what they described as an “extraordinary case of theft from Lord Ayyappa’s sacred treasury.”
The judges remarked that when they initially sought detailed repair records from the temple administration, they had not realized they were “stirring a hornet’s nest.”
According to records, in 1998–99, about 30.291 kilograms of gold, donated by controversial billionaire Vijay Mallya, had been used to gild the idols, pillars, door arches, and decorative panels depicting stories of Lord Ayyappa.
