Sabarimala gold heist: SIT report points to roles of former TDB president Prasant, tanthri Rajeevaru

Kochi: The special investigating team (SIT) probing the alleged gold theft at Sabarimala temple has filed a progress report before high court establishing the roles of former TDB president P S Prasant, Sabarimala tanthri Kandararu Rajeevaru, and five others in transporting the dwarapalaka idols to Chennai in 2025 for gold plating, allegedly to conceal the misappropriation of gold that took place in 2019.The report also names late Murari Babu, former executive officer of Sabarimala, Unnikrishnan Potti, the sponsor, Pankaj Bhandari, proprietor of Smart Creations, Chennai, A Ajikumar, member of the board, and R Rejilal, TDB’s Thiruvabharanam commissioner. It alleges that they acted in concert pursuant to a premeditated criminal conspiracy, thereby committing offences including criminal breach of trust, forgery and criminal conspiracy.Accordingly, paving the way for these persons to be arrayed as accused, HC directed SIT to initiate stringent action as per BNSS and ensure that the final report in connection with the alleged gold misappropriation is filed as early as possible. The bench of Justices V Raja Vijayaraghavan and K V Jayakumar further observed that it is for the SIT to carry out the investigation and either register a fresh crime in respect of the transaction relating to 2025 or file a further report in the existing case.

The report states that the gold-clad coverings of the dwarapalaka idols, which were installed in 1998, were transported to Chennai in 2019 at the request of Unnikrishnan Potti. While granting permission for their transportation, TDB officials, with a malicious motive, deliberately described the gold-clad dwarapalakas as copper plates and concealed their true nature. According to the report, the original gold cladding was removed from the dwarapalaka idols and only a thin layer of gold was applied during replating.

The remaining gold extracted was allegedly misappropriated by the accused.The materials collected during investigation further disclosed that TDB officers and members were fully aware, from the communications exchanged with Potti, that he continued to remain in possession of the balance quantity of gold retained in 2019 and in the subsequent replating.The report further states that the roles of former TDB member G Sundareshan, TDB secretary S Bindhu, tanthri Mahesh Mohanararu, thiruvabharanam commissioner C Sunila, executive officer O G Biju, administrative officer S Sreenivas, assistant executive officer R J Hemanth, Ballari-based jeweller Pandurangaiah Naga Govardhan and V S Rajendra Prasad, the person who served as executive officer during 2020, are presently under detailed investigation.Investigating officer S Sasidharan, who appeared before HC, sought additional time to conclude the probe, pointing out that the analysis report of one sample sent to the National Metallurgical Laboratory, Jamshedpur, and another sample forwarded to the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre are yet to be received. Accordingly, HC granted time till July 20 to complete the investigation.