Gold crown missing from Sabarimala Temple, fake one found during stock verification

Mangalore Today News Network

Thiruvananthapuram, Sep 24, 2026: In a shocking incident, a gold crown has reportedly gone missing from Sabarimala Lord Ayyappa Temple. The crown was submitted by some devotees in 2012.

An ongoing stock verification exercise in the temple found that the missing gold crown was replaced by a fake one. The original one weighed 445.78 gm and had 55.72 gm of gold in it.

The crown was studded with precious stones. The fake in the storeroom weighs only 240 gm. During the stock verification at the strong room in Aranmula, it was found that a gold chain of four sovereigns had gone missing. The stock verification at the Sabarimala storeroom and the Aranmula strong room is under the leadership of High Court-appointed amicus curiae Justice KT Sankaran.

The gold crown was submitted by Tamil Nadu-based chartered accountants in August 2012. The crown was adorned on the idol on Chingam 1 and later moved to the strong room.

High-value donations are entered in the record book at the shrine before being shifted to the storeroom. As per rules, these valuables are to be moved to the Aranmula strong room afterwards.

TDB president K Jayakumar said the missing item, if true, was shocking. He said he came to know about the incident through media reports. He said such valuables are to be kept in the Aranmula strong room. He said he was concerned about the systemic flaws in the temple administration.