The High Court-mandated Special Investigation Team (SIT), currently investigating the alleged embezzlement of gold-plated religious artifacts from the sacred Sabarimala Ayyappa temple, is now focusing its efforts on uncovering the financial transactions related to the crime.
On Saturday, the SIT searched the residence of the primary suspect, Unnikrishnan Potti, in Thiruvananthapuram. The purpose of this inspection was to seize financial documents that could reveal any illicitly acquired assets, such as real estate, or other transactions pointing towards criminal activity.
Sources close to the investigation indicate that the State police’s cyberforensic experts, working under the SIT, are diligently analyzing Mr. Potti’s mobile phone records to trace his online financial dealings, with the aim of constructing an irrefutable case against him.
The Controversy of ‘Unlawful Smelting’
At the heart of the SIT’s investigation is the ‘unlawful smelting’ of gilded molds that adorned the Ayyappa temple’s stone carvings and sculptures. This process, which took place in 2019, reportedly yielded an estimated two kilograms of gold.
According to the remand report submitted by investigating officer S. Sasidharan to a magistrate’s court in Ranni, Pathanamthitta, on Friday, Mr. Potti and nine other current and former members of the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) face serious charges. These include conspiracy, perpetrating a confidence trick, theft, illicit financial gain, causing detriment to the Ayyappa temple, and breaching the shrine’s sacred traditions by reportedly renting out the gold coverings to affluent devotees for private rituals in exchange for substantial kickbacks.
The SIT’s primary objective seems to be locating the ‘missing gold.’ The team informed the court that Mr. Potti allegedly conspired to commit the crime with other individuals. Investigators highlighted that Mr. Potti, who served as an assistant priest at the Ayyappa temple between 2004 and 2008, was reportedly aware that the gilded coverings, generously donated by industrialist Vijay Mallya in 1998, contained a substantial 38 kilograms of gold.
The SIT revealed that Mr. Potti allegedly leveraged his position by arranging costly pujas and feasts for wealthy devotees, thereby currying favor with both Travancore Devaswom Board officials and the traditional temple authorities.
A Suspicious Email to the TDB
The SIT informed the court that in 2019, Mr. Potti sent a questionable email to the TDB, offering to restore the worn gilded overlays at the sanctum sanctorum’s entrance to their former golden luster. Curiously, the TDB then transferred the coverings to him, inexplicably listing them in temple records as mere copper claddings.
The artifacts embarked on a 39-day diversion to a smelting facility in Chennai. During this journey, the SIT alleges that the accused illicitly leased out these sacred items to affluent devotees in Bengaluru, Hyderabad, and Chennai for private worship at their residences, receiving substantial payments in return.
The SIT believes the smelting unit was complicit in the crime. Upon their return, the refurbished coverings contained significantly less gold, now weighing only 397 grams. The investigation team is currently verifying the firm’s involvement before formally naming it as an accused.