The Kerala High Court on Tuesday directed the Special Investigation Team probing the alleged irregularities in the gold plating of idols in the Sabarimala temple to seize the books of the Travancore Devaswom Board with minutes of meetings, Bar and Bench reported.

The books from 2019 reportedly contain information from when the decision was taken to hand over the gold sheets and plating materials to a key accused in the matter.

The Travancore Devaswom Board is an autonomous government body that administers several Hindu temples in Kerala.

A division bench of Justices Raja Vijayaraghavan V and KV Jayakumar also held that the investigation must be carried out under the court’s supervision, according to Live Law.

“Court-monitoring in a matter of such sensitivity and where passion runs high shall help in moving the machinery of inquiry/investigation at appropriate pace and its conclusion with utmost expedition without fear or favour,” held the bench.

The suo motu case was initiated in September after the Sabarimala special commissioner submitted a report highlighting that the gold plating of the temple idols was removed and sent to Smart Creations, a Chennai-based jewellery firm, without the court’s knowledge.

The firm had undertaken the gold-plating of the Dwarapalaka idols in 2019 and had also provided a 40-year warranty.

Six years later, the Travancore Devaswom Board returned the valuables to the same company for repairs due to defects. The costs were covered by a man named Unnikrishnan Potti, who had sponsored the original plating of the idols with gold in 2019.

Potti was entrusted with the re-plating despite there being an unexplained loss of 4.54 kg of gold when the idols were brought back to the temple from Chennai in 2019.

On Tuesday, the SIT submitted a report in the High Court, stating that two criminal cases had been registered against Potti under the Indian Penal Code sections pertaining to dishonest misappropriation of property, criminal breach of trust, breach of trust by a public servant, forgery and common intention, Bar and Bench reported.

One case involved the irregular entrustment of gold-plated idols and pedestals, while the second concerned the unauthorised retention of gold from the side frames of the idols.

Potti was arrested on October 17.

Following the submission, the court directed the SIT to widen the scope of the probe to “uncover the larger conspiracy”, identifying the officials of the Travancore Devaswom Board who may have colluded to conceal the misappropriation of gold and determining whether sending the idols to the same firm “formed part of a broader scheme to suppress the pilferage that occurred in 2019”, reported Live Law.

What is the row?

On September 9, R Jayakrishnan, the special commissioner for Sabarimala, told the High Court that the gold-plated copper coverings of the dwarapalaka idols at the temple’s sanctum sanctorum had been removed for renovation without notice.

Jayakrishnan was appointed by the court in June 2024 for a two-year term to oversee temple affairs and provide reports to it.

He told the court that the gold platings were detached on September 7 and sent to Chennai for maintenance, noting that this was a departure from the usual practice of carrying out repairs within the temple premises under supervision.

It also violated instructions issued by the court in 2023 about when repairs to ornaments on the idols in the temple are undertaken. At the time, the court had said that the special commissioner must be informed before such activities are undertaken.

During the hearing on September 9, the court questioned the rationale behind sending the valuables to Smart Creations. It also directed that the repairs be halted and the items be returned to the temple immediately.

Several irregularities had come to light during an inquiry into the matter.

In 1999, the Travancore Devaswom Board had undertaken the gold-plating of the dwarapalakas at the entrance, among other items. Five kilograms of gold were used to cover the dwarapalakas.

In 2019, Potti had secured the approval of the board to sponsor the gold-plating of the temple’s idols and valuables at his own expense. However, the handover document did not mention the existing gold covering installed in 1999.

It instead described the items that were handed over as bearing “copper plates”.

After the gold-covered copper plates were brought back to the temple in 2019, there was an unexplained loss of 4.54 kg. However, the Travancore Devaswom Board reportedly chose to overlook this discrepancy and entrusted Potti with the re-plating this year.

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