Thiruvananthapuram, Oct 7 (IANS) The first head rolled in the Sabarimala temple gold plating controversy with the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) on Tuesday, suspending its official B. Murari Babu, who, in 2019, had reported that the gold sheets given by businessman Vijay Mallya were actually copper.

At the time, Murari Babu was the Administrative Officer at Sabarimala. He is currently serving as the Deputy Commissioner of the TDB at Haripad.

Murari Babu was also responsible for handing over the gold sheets to Unnikrishnan Potti, the now controversial ‘sponsor’, and had appeared before the TDB Vigilance officials after this present controversy surfaced.

His 2019 report, which documented the gold as copper in the ‘Mahasar’ (temple treasury records), triggered a formal investigation by the TDB Vigilance.

The TDB Vigilance report cited lapses of a few officials, and out of them, only Murari Babu is presently in service.

It was based on this report, the TDB convened a board meeting and approved the suspension of Murari Babu on Tuesday.

However, Murari Babu has maintained that he had no personal involvement in any lapses.

He claims that the recording of gold as copper was done based on a letter from the Tantri (chief priest) and that his report was only preliminary.

Final approval for any gold application rested with higher authorities.

He contended that gold was applied only in small quantities on the ‘Dwarapalakas’ (door guardians) and battlements, which caused it to appear as copper.

In 2019, copper was indeed visible on the door guardian sculptures, he added, reiterating that he had no role in any lapse.

Murari Babu also clarified that he was not present when the gold sheets were physically handed over, as he had vacated his position three days prior, on July 16, 2019, and did not sign the Mahasar.

Only a minor portion of gold was applied to the sculptures, and the records correctly reflected copper sheets, he added.

He noted that the gold plating company had High Court approval and provided a 40-year warranty, and that the actual application of gold could proceed only after sponsorship approval.

The suspension of Murari Babu is seen as part of the TDB’s efforts to enforce accountability, even as he continues to assert that he was not personally responsible for any lapses in the gold sheet process.

Both the Vijayan government and the TDB are presently in the dock as both the Congress-led UDF and the BJP are up in arms. On Monday, the Kerala High Court took the lead and formed an SIT to probe the present controversy and submit a report in a month’s time.

–IANS

sg/vd