Contractor S S Binu arrested for diverting Sabarimala payasam ghee
A transport contractor, S S Binu, has been arrested for allegedly redirecting 11,000-liter of Milma ghee that was supposed to be used in Aravana payasam at Sabarimala temple.
This missing ghee has left the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) facing a loss of around ₹2.5 crore, a big deal since the payasam is offered as prasadam at the Lord Ayyappa temple.
Investigators say fake paperwork diverted ghee
Investigators say Binu used fake paperwork to send the ghee to two firms in Tamil Nadu instead.
The contract itself was handed out without inviting quotations for the supply contract to the Pathanamthitta Milma dairy, which is raising more eyebrows.
Now, with a Kerala High Court-ordered probe underway, officials are digging into how this happened, noting that the contract had been awarded for the 2025 pilgrimage season at Sabarimala.