Kerala LoP alleges huge fraud under the guise of Ayyappa Sangamam

Leader of the Opposition in the Kerala Assembly V D Satheesan on Saturday said in continuation of the looting that took place in Sabarimala, a huge fraud was carried out in the guise of Global Ayyappa Sangamam. Despite the strict instruction of the High Court to keep separate accounts, crores of rupees were looted in the name of Global Ayyappa Sangamam.

Addressing a press conference held in Malappuram as part of the Puthu Yuga Yatra, Satheesan said stories of the looting in the conduct of the Global Ayyappa Sangam, which was held for political gain, claiming to bring about changes in Sabarimala, promising to turn it into a major pilgrimage center, are now coming out.

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Just as it was reported that a horse was brought in a Maruti car during the CPM Corporation’s rule in Kollam, fraud was also committed in the name of Ayyappa Sangamam. The question to be asked to the Chief Minister is whether this fraud was in the name of Ayyappa, he said.

Crores of rupees were embezzled in the name of providing food and accommodation to people who did not attend the Sangamam. “Were all those who arrived for the Sangamam accommodated in a five-star hotel? Were they provided with food in a five-star hotel? What was the program that took place there,” Satheesan asked, adding that they even wrote a bill in the name of a music troupe which didn’t stage any programme there.

He said the same group that led the gold looting operation in Sabarimala in 2024 after the theft in 2019 organized the Global Ayyappa Sangamam. “These are temple thieves who have come out to loot the Ayyappa’s wealth. There is no account of the fake collections and sponsorships made in the name of the Ayyappa Sangamam. “

Alleging that the government also has a role in the fraud,Satheesan said that the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) held the Sangamam with the support of the government. ”The TDB president and members were appointed by this government. All of them committed the fraud together. Since there weren’t sufficient devotees to attend the Sangamam , the Devaswom Minister, brought employees of government Departments as spectators,” he added.

The figures in the account related to the Sangamam contradict each other. The figure given by the Devaswom Minister to Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan in the Assembly justifies the fraud taken place in the name of the Ayyappa Sangamam, he said

The Chief Minister tried to take all the credit for the conduct of the Ayyappa Sangamam at Pampa, he noted. “The Chief Minister’s picture, which was three times bigger than the picture of Ayyappa, was on the flex boards. And if everyone, including the Devaswom Minister, washes their hands of it, who will be held responsible for the loot of the devotes fund,” the Opposition leader asked.

“The account of the loot of crores of rupees in the name of the global Ayyappa Sangam must be given. Whoever is responsible should be brought to justice,” he asserted.

“If the government has no role in the conduct of the Ayyappa Sangamam, why then did they engage in PR exercise,” he asked

Allegations of large-scale financial irregularities in the conduct of the Global Ayyappa Sangamam held in Pampa in August 2025 have triggered a fresh political storm in Kerala.

Meanwhile, the TDB on Saturday dismissed the media reports on the audit findings as “factually incorrect and baseless”. In a statement, it said certain media outlets were “indulging in false propaganda” on the event’s spending. The auditor’s report stating that the amount was paid to the Nanda Govindam Bhajans group is incorrect, the statement said.

An inadvertent error in the statement submitted by the event management agency to the Devaswom Board’s chartered accountant led to the misunderstanding that the Nanda Govindam Bhajans program was there, it said .