NEW DELHI: Pandalam Palace representatives have demanded a comprehensive probe to determine how the gold sheets offered by Vijay Mallya in 1998 to the Dwarapalaka idol at Sabarimala ceased to be gold in 2019.They said it is also essential to verify whether sponsors who claim to take up repair works have the capability and financial means to undertake such activities.Pandalam Kottaram Nirvahaka Sangham secretary M R Suresh Varma said that it is scary as well as hurting for devotees that no proper procedures were followed while executing such an important task in 2019.The govt has the responsibility to identify those who handled the procedures negligently and to find out who were all involved. ‘The Vijay Mallya connection’Vijay Mallya is also a devout follower of Lord Ayyappa. Every year, Mallya used to observe the strict 41-day pilgrimage ritual of abstaining from alcohol and meat before embarking on the journey to the hill shrine of Sabarimala in Kerala, reported by TOI in 2011.Mallya completed more than 20 Sabarimala pilgrimages, often accompanied by a group of friends, as reported by TOI in 2011.Like other devotees, he used to walk barefoot for the last 10 kilometres of the trek before climbing the 18 sacred steps for darshan of the deity.He has contributed to the gold-plating of the sanctum sanctorum’s roof at Sabarimala, a donation initially met with criticism. After legal scrutiny, the Kerala high court approved his offering of 32 kilograms of gold and 1,900 kilograms of copper, a project reported to have cost around Rs 18 crore in 1998.The businessman and his wife, Rekha also supported the gold-plating of pillars at the Ayyappa temple in Jalahalli, Bengaluru. Mallya’s faith even influenced his business, his every new Kingfisher Airlines aircraft first used to circumambulates the Tirupati Venkateshwara temple before commencing commercial operations.
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