The new gold-covered mast at the Sabarimala hill shrine in Kerala was found damaged using some chemical, suspected to be mercury, on Sunday within hours of its installation, triggering widespread concern among the millions of devotees of lord Ayyappa, the deity of the world-famous temple. Five people, hailing from Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh have been taken into custody by the police in connection with the incident.
The damage of the gold-covered base (Pancha Varga Thara) of the mast at its pedestal was identified by the sculptors of the mast. The chief sculptor and his associates said the erosion of gold at the mast’s base could have been caused by mercury application. Sources in the temple administration body said the damage could be rectified.
Five persons were taken into custody by the police from the bus stand in Pampa, the base station for the Sabarimala hill shrine, as they were preparing to leave the place, on the basis of the visuals found from the CCTV recordings from Sannidhanam, the abode of lord Ayyappa at the temple.
The Superintendent of Police, Pathanamthitta confirmed that the liquid was poured on the mast base by the Andhra persons themselves. “We can confirm this much. The police have been able to nab them within 45 minutes of the identification of the damage,” he said. A special team of Andhra Pradesh police is expected to reach Kerala to question them.
The police official said that the detained persons had admitted that they had poured the liquid at the mast base but claimed that they had done it as part of a ritual. “That is what they are saying. Two of them had visited Sabarimala earlier also,” said the official. The police seized a bottle with the remainder of the chemical substance from them.
The CCTV grab showed three men standing near the newly installed mast and one of them, aged around 60, pouring some liquid on the mast base from a bottle. These visuals were recorded at 1.27 pm. Temple authorities said the mast base was intact till the performers of installation rituals had left the spot a few minutes before that.
The cost of the gold-plating of the flag mast was borne by a Vijayawada-based industrial group. Preparations for the installation of the new 12-metre mast costing Rs3.2 crore and for which over nine kilos of gold, 17 kilos of silver and 250 kilos of copper were used had started a year ago. Authorities said the golden cylinders (Swarna Para) of the mast were intact.
Acting upon a complaint lodged directly by Prayar Gopalakrishnan, president of temple administration body Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB), Director General of Police TP Senkumar directed the Inspector General of Police and the Pathanamthitta district police chief to conduct a thorough probe into the incident.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan directed the police to carry out a detailed investigation into the incident and capture the culprits behind it. “Kerala is a much advanced State and there is every facility required to solve such cases. We believe that the culprits would be nabbed and the motivation would be learned,” said the TDB president.
“The mast base was intact till the Ucha Pooja (noon rituals within the sanctum sanctorum) was over. It seems that this is part of an attempt at cheating and that it has been done on purpose,” said Devaswom Minister Kadakampally Surendran.
The mast base was found damaged within an hour of the performance of the final ritual of mast installation, Vaji Vahana Pratishtha.