SIT’s Sabarimala temple theft probe edges closer to serving and retired TDB officials

The Kerala High Court-appointed special investigation team (SIT) investigating the misappropriation of gold-plated artefacts from the Sabarimala Ayyappa temple reportedly held a meeting in Thiruvananthapuram on Thursday, as the probe appeared to be edging closer to serving and retired Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) officials, including two former TDB presidents, both political appointees.

Officials privy to the investigation said Additional Director General of Police, Crime Branch and Law and Order, H. Venkatesh chaired the meeting purportedly to plot the next phase of the probe, which, they claimed, might entail more arrests and confiscation of material objects pertaining to the case.

The closed-door meeting at the Crime Branch office in Thiruvananthapuram also assumed significance against the backdrop of the arrest of Unnikrishnan Potti, a former temple helper with high social connections, who volunteered (in 2019) to restore the gilded panels covering the stone carvings and sculptures at the temple to their original sheen with the backing of wealthy donors.

The SIT had also arrested Murari Babu, a serving TDB official, who it alleged had, as temple administrator, wilfully and fraudulently miscategorised the original gold-plated claddings as made of pure copper before transferring them to Mr. Potti’s custody for refurbishing. 

The SIT case is that an internal audit by the TDB Vigilance wing found that the gilded panels Mr. Potti returned to the temple after 40 days in his custody weighed less and had drastically lower gold content than the originals donated to the temple by industrialist Vijay Mallya in 1998. 

The SIT had sought Mr. Potti’s protracted custody for further questioning. It took him to the metalworks factory in Chennai, which the suspect had contracted to refurbish the gold-plated copper cladding. 

According to sources, the SIT is investigating whether Mr. Potti smelted the gilded metal moulds for their gold at the factory and later sold the extracted gold to a Bengaluru jeweller, possibly concealing the metal’s provenance. The SIT is yet to name the factory owner or jeweller as an accused in the case. However, it recorded their statements and inspected their respective premises.

The SIT also escorted Mr. Potti to Bengaluru, Hyderabad, and Chennai to trace the itinerary of the gold-plated coverings, which the accused allegedly chartered out to wealthy Ayyappa devotees, including film stars and industrialists, for private worship for sizeable backhanders.

 It is also probing whether Mr. Potti, in conjunction with other suspects, replicated the gilded casts and sold the original to some wealthy private collector for private worship.

Meanwhile, the SIT produced Mr. Potti before the Ranni magistrate’s court after 14 days of police custody and remanded him to the Thiruvananthapuram District Sub Jail later.