The Local Fund Audit wing of the State government on Monday completed the scrutiny of the register (Thiruvabharanam Register) showing the stock of gold and silver offered by devotees at Sabarimala Ayyappa Temple over the past several years.
Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) president A. Padmakumar told The Hindu that the auditors had found the register intact. During the scrutiny, the auditors did not find that any offerings made by devotees at Sabarimala were missing.
‘Charges baseless’
This proved that the allegations levelled by certain vested interests were absolutely baseless, he said.
The audit team could find prompt entry of 10,413 items offered by the devotees to the Ayyappa temple over the past several years in the stock register, the TDB chief said.
Sabarimala Executive Officer D. Sudheshkumar said a few items such as golden puja vessels, silver lamps, a golden head gear and so on were in use at Sabarimala. As many as 3,800 items of gold and silver had been taken for use in the installation of golden temple mast at various temples attached to the TDB.
In strong room
The remaining items had been kept safe in the TDB strong room at Aranmula, he said.
Mr. Padmakumar said the baseless charges levelled by vested interests to malign the board could affect the popularity of Sabarimala and such things were condemnable.
The Local Fund Audit wing would submit its report to the High Court soon.
The physical verification of the stock of gold and silver at the TDB strong room at Aranmula is progressing and the Thiruvabharanam Commissioner has stated before the High Court that it will be completed in the next three months itself.