Palakkad, Oct 22 : The political storm over the Sabarimala gold scam intensified on Wednesday, with the Leader of Opposition (LoP) Satheesan demanding the resignation of the current Devaswom Minister V.N. Vasavan and the dismissal of the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB).

Satheesan said based on the latest observations of the Kerala High Court which have 'underlined the seriousness' of the allegations, V.N. Vasavan should quit and the TDB should be dismissed.

Elaborating on the scam, Satheesan said the fraud dates back to 2019, when original gold-plated Dwarapalaka plates were allegedly replaced with fake copper sheets and the originals sold to private parties.

'The then TDB leadership, along with 'sponsor' Unnikrishnan Potti, (presently under arrest) was already under the scanner. The current Board acted with full knowledge of this earlier scam when it reassigned work to the same Potti in 2025,' said Satheesan.

He also highlighted contradictions in the the Devaswom Commissioner's actions.

'On July 30, the Commissioner had reportedly objected to assigning gold plating work to outsiders and warned against trusting a private agency. However, just a week later, the position was reversed and the work was given to Potti again, allegedly after intervention from the current TDB President,' added LoP Satheesan.

The High Court, in its recent interim observations, noted that the Board violated both Devaswom manuals and earlier court orders while allowing the plates to be moved out.

The court also pointed out that had it not intervened, the Dwarapalaka plates taken out in 2025 might also have been sold.

'This is not negligence, it is an organized looting of temple gold. The Minister must resign immediately, and the entire Board must be kicked out,' added Satheesan.

He further alleged that the President of the Devaswom Board 'played a direct role' in overruling the Commissioner's objections.

'If officials are accused, why is the President still in office'? the leader asked.

Incidentally P.S. Prasanth the present TDB President is a CPI-M leader.

Earlier, he was a top district leader in the Congress party and had unsuccessfully contested in the 2021 Assembly polls from his home constituency in the capital district.

Soon after Prasanth lost the polls, he dumped the Congress party and joined the CPI-M. Soon, thereafter, he was made the President of the TDB.

/IANS