The Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the Sabarimala gold theft case has arrested Unnikrishnan Potty, the primary accused in two cases registered as part of the inquiry, following an interrogation that lasted over 11 hours.
Potty was questioned by a team led by Bijoy P, SP, Crime Branch (CU-4), Thiruvananthapuram. S Sasidharan, Assistant Director (Administration) of the Kerala Police Academy (KEPA) and case investigator under the ADGP, Crime Branch, arrived in Thiruvananthapuram from Sabarimala around 1 am. Potty’s arrest was officially recorded in the early morning hours, after which he was taken to General Hospital for a medical examination. He was later produced before the Judicial First Class Magistrate Court, Ranni, and remanded to custody until October 30th.
Potty was arrested in connection with two specific cases: one for colluding with Devaswom Board officials to siphon off gold panels from the Dwarapalaka idols, and the second for detaching the gold-plated door panels of the sanctum sanctorum by misrepresenting them as copper plates, allegedly with the recommendation of board staff. The SIT’s first arrest in the case aligns with findings already detailed in a probe report submitted by the Devaswom Vigilance.
The SIT maintained silence on the interrogation details, following clear instructions from the High Court. The Court has refused permission to the officers to disclose anything to the public or the media until the investigation is over and has instructed them to get permission from the Court before presenting the final report to the jurisdictional Court.
The Devaswom Vigilance report detailed the process of the suspected siphoning:
In August 2019, Potty transferred 14 gold-coated Dwarapalaka copper plates to a third party, Smart Creations, instructing them to utilise the gold already mined, as well as any remaining gold from the Dwarapalakas.
In September 2019, 14 items of gold-plated copper plates were returned to Potty alongside a gold certificate reflecting 394.9 grams.
The recovery specialist extracted a total of 989 grams of gold from the original materials (409 grams from the side frame and 577 grams from the Dwarapalakas and other 14 items), which included 3 grams supplied by Potty.
After securing permission, 404.8 grams was used for plating (deducting 393.9 grams for the Dwarapalakas and 9.9 grams for other Sabarimala items).
The inquiry states that the balance gold measuring 474.9 grams was handed to one Kalpesh, an individual authorised by Potty. The Devaswom Vigilance report showed that records do not disclose that this gold was ever re-entrusted to the Travancore Devaswom Board.
Potty’s alleged aides and sponsors, Kalpesh and Nagesh, currently remain absconding. All members of the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) active in 2019 have been named as the eighth accused in the case. The then Devaswom Commissioner N Vasu, Thiruvabharanam Commissioner, Executive Officer, Administrative Officer, and Assistant Engineer have also been booked. The TDB has suspended two officials, Murari Babu and Sunilkumar, in connection with the case. The SIT conducted a further inspection at the Sannidhanam on Thursday to collect additional evidence and re-measure the sanctum walls.
Earlier, the Kerala High Court had directed the SIT to register a case and probe the theft of 475 grams of gold from the Sabarimala Ayyappa temple. The division bench of Justices Raja Vijayaraghavan V and Justice KV Jayakumar directed the SIT to carry out an unbiased inquiry and file the inquiry report within six weeks, in the wake of perusing the probe report submitted by the Chief Vigilance and Security Officer.
Members of Potty's family said they were not told where he was after he was arrested, leading his attorney to accuse the team of disobeying custody procedures. After media coverage that night, Crime Branch officials later informed the members of the family about the arrest details.
Also read: HC confirms Sabarimala gold theft, seeks SIT report in 6 weeks
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