India

VACB Arrests TDB Employee Over Sabarimala Ghee Diversion

By PTI

In Thiruvananthapuram, the Vigilance and Anti‑Corruption Bureau (VACB) arrested a Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) employee on Friday in connection with alleged irregularities in the supply of ghee to the Sabarimala temple during the 2025 pilgrimage season. The arrested employee, named Jayalal, was deployed at the TDB store manager’s office during the last pilgrimage season and is the second person to be detained in the case. Earlier, the VACB had arrested contractor S S Binu, who had been awarded the contract to transport Milma ghee from the dairy to the shrine. According to the VACB, Binu diverted about 11,000 litres of ghee intended for the temple to two agencies in Tamil Nadu and replaced it with a cheaper product, resulting in an estimated loss of ₹2.5 crore to the TDB. Investigation records from the Sabarimala store showed that the entire quantity of ghee had been delivered to the shrine, but the substitute product supplied in place of the diverted stock did not reach Sabarimala in its entirety. The VACB alleges that Jayalal colluded with Binu by making entries in the registers to show that the ghee had been received at the shrine, even though the entire quantity had not been delivered, and that he received a share of the contractor’s earnings from the diversion. Jayalal belongs to the TDB wing responsible for music and musical instruments and was deployed at the store manager’s office during the pilgrimage season. The VACB team summoned him to its office, where his arrest was formally recorded. He will be produced before the Vigilance court in Kollam. The VACB’s Special Investigation Unit is probing the alleged irregularities following a directive from the Kerala High Court to investigate the procurement and quality of ghee supplied to the temple. The TDB had procured Milma ghee from the Pathanamthitta dairy of the Kerala Co‑operative Milk Marketing Federation for preparing ‘Aravana payasam’, a rice‑and‑jaggery‑based sweet prasadam offered at the Lord Ayyappa temple. The board had directly awarded the supply contract to the dairy without inviting quotations, after which the transportation contract was awarded to Binu.