Guruvayur temple's gold, saffron missing; audit report flags serious irregularities

THRISSUR: The State Audit Department has reported serious irregularities in the handling of gold and other valuables at the Guruvayur Temple, stating that proper procedures were not followed. According to the report, the temple failed to renew gold deposits under the SBI Gold Deposit Scheme on time, resulting in a loss of Rs 79 lakh.

The audit department has also found that bags of manjadi seeds offered by devotees have gone missing, and saffron hasn't been accounted for in the records. Meanwhile, the Guruvayur Devaswom responded by stating that all the shortcomings pointed out by the audit department had been rectified and that a detailled affidavit explaining the corrective measures had been submitted to the Kerala High Court.

The report covers the period from 2019 to 2022 and highlights multiple procedural lapses. It found that valuable items received by the temple were not properly recorded. For instance, a large uruli (bronze vessel) weighing around 2,000 kilograms and worth Rs 15 lakh, donated by a Palakkad native in 2002, was not entered in the accounts.

The audit also mentioned that over 530 kilograms of elephant tusk remains collected from Punnathur Anakotta were missing. However, the Special Officer of the Forest Department (SFO) denied this claim, stating that all tusk remains are safely stored in a government locker. Following the release of the audit report, a private individual filed a petition in the Kerala High Court seeking further investigation into the matter.