Thiruvananthapuram, Oct 25 (PTI) Keralam Minister K Muraleedharan on Sunday alleged that Devaswom officials were involved in the ghee scam, in which a transport contractor was recently arrested.
Speaking to reporters, Muraleedharan alleged that some Devaswom officials were involved in misappropriating temple assets.
“There has been one arrest in the case. The investigation will continue as it would not have happened without the involvement of certain Devaswom officials. Some Devaswom officials are involved in misappropriating God’s assets,” the minister claimed.
The Devaswom minister said the government was keeping a close watch on the issue and was receiving full cooperation from the TDB.
The Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau’s Special Investigation Unit recently arrested a transport contractor for allegedly diverting 11,000 litres of Milma ghee meant for the Sabarimala temple and replacing it with a cheaper product, causing an estimated loss of Rs 2.5 crore to the TDB, officials said.
The arrested person, S S Binu, had been awarded the contract to transport the ghee to the hill shrine for the 2025 pilgrimage season, officials said.
This was the first arrest in the case, which is being investigated by the VACB following a Kerala High Court directive to probe alleged irregularities in the procurement and quality of ghee supplied to the temple.
Milma is the brand name of the Kerala Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation.
According to the VACB, the Travancore Devaswom Board had procured Milma ghee from the Pathanamthitta Milma dairy for preparing ‘Aravana payasam’, a sweet made with red rice, jaggery and ghee and offered as ‘prasadam’ at the Lord Ayyappa temple.
The TDB had directly awarded the supply contract to the dairy without inviting quotations, following which the transportation contract was awarded to Binu, officials said.
The VACB has alleged that the original ghee meant for Sabarimala was diverted to two agencies in Tamil Nadu and replaced with a cheaper product that was supplied to the shrine. PTI HMP SSK
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