Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president Sunny Joseph has sought registration of criminal cases against the Devaswom minister and the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) for “widespread corruption” in holding the Global Ayyappa Meet. He sought a comprehensive investigation into allegations of misappropriation of funds, production of documents and criminal breach of trust.
Addressing the media at the Kannur District Congress Committee office here, Mr. Joseph alleged that the audited figures of expenditure on the event and the amounts claimed by the minister and the board did not match.
“If he is blameless, the Devaswom minister should resign. If he believes he can get away with shifting the responsibility to someone else, he is wrong,” said Mr. Joseph.
He alleged that a conspiracy was hatched to siphon off funds in the name of organizing the meeting and that fictitious documents were created for this purpose. Many of the vouchers submitted were fake and prepared to justify fraudulent claims, he claimed, seeking an investigation to identify those who created the fake entries.
He also claimed that those involved in the Sabarimala gold theft case were still protected and that delays in filing the chargesheet allowed the accused to secure bail on technicalities.
Published – 14 Feb 2026 20:51 IST