The SIT probing the Sabarimala gold scam has found evidence against former Travancore Devaswom Board president P.S. Prasanth, an LDF appointee, according to Deccan Chronicle. He is now the third LDF-era board president linked to the scandal, raising serious questions about whether the party's nominees enabled or ignored the systematic pilferage of devotees' gold offerings at one of India's holiest shrines.

Three presidents. One temple. And the gold that millions of Ayyappa devotees placed at the feet of Swami — allegedly gone, replaced, or unaccounted for, while every man appointed to guard it held his seat courtesy the same political formation.

The Special Investigation Team probing the Sabarimala gold scam has now found evidence against former Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) president P.S. Prasanth, an appointee of Kerala's ruling Left Democratic Front, according to Deccan Chronicle. With Prasanth, the number of LDF-era TDB presidents linked to the scandal rises to three — a tally that transforms this from a story about a few corrupt individuals into an indictment of an entire governance architecture.

The question the SIT's finding forces is blunt: was the rot in the people, or in the system that put them there? And if three successive custodians of one of Hinduism's most sacred treasuries allegedly failed the same duty, what exactly was the Devaswom Board's internal audit machinery doing all those years — auditing, or looking the other way?

The Alleged Modus Operandi: How Does Temple Gold Vanish?

Sabarimala receives millions of pilgrims annually, many of whom offer gold ornaments as vazhipadu — sacred offerings — to Lord Ayyappa. These offerings constitute a treasure of immense material and spiritual value, held in trust by the TDB on behalf of devotees and the deity.

The alleged scam, as pieced together from investigative reports, centres on the pilferage and possible substitution of this gold. The mechanism reportedly exploited the gap between the moment gold is deposited by the devotee and the moment it enters a formally audited vault — a gap that, in a temple processing lakhs of offerings during peak season, can be wide enough to drive a lorry through.

What makes the allegation devastating is not just the quantum of gold reportedly compromised, but the duration. This was not, investigators reportedly believe, a single opportunistic theft. It was allegedly a sustained operation spanning multiple board tenures — which is precisely why the SIT's net has widened to a third president rather than stopping at one or two.

The Case File

The talk in Kerala's political corridors, as reported across Malayalam media, is far sharper than the official SIT filings suggest. The whisper — and it is a whisper worth noting, though unverified — is that the gold scam investigation has exposed not just pilferage but a shadow economy around temple offerings that no single president could have run alone. Trade circles and temple administration insiders are said to be speculating about the involvement of middlemen, goldsmiths, and possibly even officials lower in the TDB hierarchy who allegedly facilitated the conversion of devotional gold into cash or substituted ornaments.

The LDF's political opponents have been quick to frame this as a governance scandal with a party address. The argument, aired loudly by the UDF and BJP, is straightforward: the Devaswom Board president is a political appointment, chosen by the ruling coalition; if three such appointees in succession allegedly presided over the same scam, the appointing authority bears moral — if not legal — responsibility. The LDF, for its part, has not issued a detailed public rebuttal to the SIT's latest findings against Prasanth as of this report. (This reflects industry chatter and political speculation, not confirmed fact.)

The Audit Black Hole: Where Were the Checks?

The TDB is not a neighbourhood temple committee. It administers over 1,200 temples across the former Travancore kingdom, including Sabarimala — one of the wealthiest and most visited pilgrimage centres in the world. Its annual revenue runs into hundreds of crores. It has auditors, accountants, security protocols, and a reporting chain that leads to the Kerala government.

And yet, if the SIT's findings hold, gold was allegedly being siphoned under this entire apparatus for years. The institutional failure here is staggering. Consider what it takes for temple gold to go missing without triggering an alarm: the offering-receipt chain must have gaps, the weighing and cataloguing process must be compromised, the vault reconciliation must be either irregular or falsified, and the audit — if it happens at all — must be perfunctory enough to miss discrepancies that an SIT later found.

Each of these failures is a system failure, not merely a personnel failure. And that is the dimension that gets lost when the story is reduced to names and FIR numbers. The real scandal is not that P.S. Prasanth or his predecessors are accused — it is that the TDB's institutional design apparently made it possible for whoever sat in the president's chair to preside over such an operation without the system self-correcting.

The LDF's Uncomfortable Pattern

India Herald's read of what is really driving this story is the political pattern it exposes, not just the criminal one. The Devaswom Board presidency is a coveted political appointment in Kerala — a state where temple administration is deeply intertwined with party patronage. The LDF has treated the TDB presidency as a political reward, and the UDF, in its time, has done much the same. But the gold scam has now tagged three LDF-era appointees specifically, giving the opposition a devastating rhetorical weapon: that the Left, which has historically positioned itself as a secular custodian of temple affairs, allegedly let Lord Ayyappa's own offerings be looted on its watch.

Whether this translates into legal accountability or merely political noise depends on what the SIT does next. The investigation is ongoing, and it is critical to note that P.S. Prasanth — like the other named individuals — is accused, not convicted. The presumption of innocence applies, and the courts will ultimately determine culpability. But the political damage to the LDF is already substantial, and it compounds with every new name the SIT adds to its list.

What Comes Next — And What to Watch For

If the SIT's evidence against Prasanth is as substantial as reports suggest, a chargesheet is the logical next step. Watch for whether the investigation widens further — not just to more board presidents, but downward into the TDB's operational hierarchy, where the actual mechanics of gold handling occur. The real test of this probe's seriousness will be whether it reaches the goldsmiths, the weighing officials, and the audit chain, or whether it remains confined to the political appointees at the top.

Watch also for the Kerala government's response. The LDF faces a structural dilemma: distancing itself from its own appointees risks admitting a pattern of failed oversight; defending them risks owning the scam. The likely move, based on past political playbooks, is to quietly let the investigation proceed while publicly questioning the SIT's methodology or timing — especially if elections loom.

And watch, above all, for whether the TDB's audit and gold-custody protocols are reformed. Because if three presidents can allegedly preside over the same scam and the system never self-corrects, the fourth president — whoever appoints them, whichever coalition is in power — inherits the same broken machine.

Millions of devotees climb Sabarimala's eighteen sacred steps every year, surrendering gold in faith. The question the SIT's latest finding leaves hanging is the simplest and most damning one: was anyone, at any point, actually counting?

Key Takeaways

• SIT has found evidence against former TDB president P.S. Prasanth, making him the third LDF-era board president linked to the Sabarimala gold scam, according to Deccan Chronicle.
• The alleged scam involved systematic pilferage and possible substitution of gold from devotees' offerings at Sabarimala over multiple board tenures.
• The TDB administers over 1,200 temples with annual revenue in hundreds of crores, yet its audit and gold-custody mechanisms allegedly failed to detect the scam for years.
• The LDF faces acute political exposure as all three implicated presidents were its appointees, giving the opposition a potent governance-failure narrative.
• P.S. Prasanth and others named are accused, not convicted — the presumption of innocence applies and courts will determine culpability.
• The investigation's credibility hinges on whether the SIT probe extends beyond political appointees to the operational chain — goldsmiths, weighing officials, auditors — where the mechanics of pilferage allegedly occurred.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Sabarimala gold scam?

The Sabarimala gold scam refers to the alleged systematic pilferage and possible substitution of gold from devotees' sacred offerings (vazhipadu) at the Sabarimala Lord Ayyappa temple in Kerala, administered by the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB). The SIT investigation has linked multiple former TDB presidents to the scandal.

Who is P.S. Prasanth and why is he named in the scam?

P.S. Prasanth is a former president of the Travancore Devaswom Board, appointed during the LDF's tenure in Kerala. According to Deccan Chronicle, the SIT has found evidence linking him to the gold scam, making him the third LDF-era TDB president implicated in the investigation.

How many TDB presidents have been linked to the Sabarimala gold scam?

Three former TDB presidents from the LDF era have now been linked to the Sabarimala gold scam by the SIT, according to reports. All were political appointees of the Left Democratic Front coalition.

What role does the Travancore Devaswom Board play at Sabarimala?

The TDB is the statutory body that administers over 1,200 temples in the former Travancore kingdom, including the Sabarimala Lord Ayyappa temple. It manages temple finances, offerings, security, and audits — responsibilities that the gold scam investigation has called into serious question.

Is P.S. Prasanth convicted in the Sabarimala gold scam?

No. P.S. Prasanth has been named by the SIT based on evidence found during the investigation, but he is accused, not convicted. The presumption of innocence applies, and the courts will ultimately determine legal culpability.