SIT moves closer to questioning more TDB higher-ups in Sabarimala gold theft case

The Kerala High Court-appointed special investigation team (SIT) probing a criminal misappropriation of gold-plated artefacts from the Sabarimala Ayyappa temple appeared to be moving closer to questioning more former Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) members who were among those at the helm of affairs when the crime occurred in 2019.

Notably, two TDB members at the time, K.P. Sankar Das and N. Vijaykumar, have moved the Enquiry Commissioner and Special Judge, Vigilance, Kollam, for protection from arrest. Officials said the SIT had not named any 2019 TDB member as an accused in the case. Nevertheless, the High Court had tasked the SIT with investigating whether those on the board at the time had signed off on the order to hand over the gold-plated copper moulds covering the temple’s stone carvings, sculptures and doorway to the prime accused, Unnikrishnan Potti, for “restoration.”

Notably, the SIT has collected specimen signatures and writing samples of TDB officials for forensic analysis and is examining documents for dissent notes, if any, concerning the contentious decision to entrust Mr. Potti with the gilded panels. 

It was also attempting to establish the intention to commit a crime in the TDB’s “suspicious misrepresentation” of the gilded objects donated in 1998 by industrialist Vijay Mallya as made of pure copper, possibly to give legal cover to the accused. 

Police custody

Officials said the SIT would also seek police custody of Pankaj Bhandari, owner of Smart Creations, a metal works factory contracted by Mr. Potti to “restore” the gilded panels, and Govardhan, owner of Roddam Jewellers, who allegedly purchased a portion of the chemically separated gold from the panels. The officials said the SIT would examine whether the accused had collaborators in the TDB and whether they had compromised the temple’s priestly hierarchy. 

The officials noted that the SIT was preparing an inventory of events sponsored by businesspersons at the Ayyappa temple, including the hiring of temple priests for private poojas on their premises in Bengaluru and Chennai. The SIT had told the court that it required more time to investigate, given the scope and depth of the case. The SIT needed more time to collect and establish the role of more TDB officials in the crime, added the officials.  For one, the SIT had to determine how the suspects used gold extracted by a chemical separation process allegedly at Smart Creations. They said the SIT’s plainclothes team was at Mr. Govardhan’s jewellery in Bellary for further evidence collection.

Moreover, the SIT was examining whether the crime had a cross-border nature linked to international dealers in stolen antiques.