Thiruvananthapuram | A SIT constituted by the Kerala High Court registered an FIR on Thursday as part of its probe into the alleged irregularities in the procurement and supply of Milma ghee to the Sabarimala Lord Ayyappa temple, officials said.
Sources in the Special Investigation Team (SIT) said the FIR names former Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) president P S Prasanth, former board member A Ajikumar and former administrative officer Murari Babu, who died in June this year.
It was during their tenure that the alleged decision was taken to procure ghee at a lower price, officials said.
The FIR has been submitted before the Vigilance Court in Kollam, the sources said.
The trio is also accused in the Sabarimala gold loss case probed by another SIT constituted by the High Court last year.
Prasanth and Ajikumar were recently arrested in the gold loss case.
A division bench of Justices Raja Vijayaraghavan V and K V Jayakumar on Wednesday constituted the SIT and directed that it be headed by Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) Superintendent of Police M J Sojan.
Sojan, who heads the VACB's Ernakulam Special Cell, is also probing the alleged criminal misappropriation of proceeds from the sale of 'Adiya Sishtam Ghee' at the Sabarimala temple.
The High Court directed the SIT to carry out the investigation with "utmost diligence and vigour" and examine all issues flagged in the report submitted by the Chief Vigilance and Security Officer of the TDB.
The bench also directed the SIT to submit a progress report before the court within one month.
The Kerala government had recently ordered an investigation following allegations that the ghee supplied by state-run dairy cooperative Milma to the Sabarimala temple during the 2025-26 pilgrimage season was of inferior quality and that there were irregularities in the quantity supplied.
