SIT Findings on Gold Theft and Criminal Conspiracy at Sabarimala
The Special Investigation Team that was set up to look into the gold theft at Sabarimala has finally told the Kerala High Court what they found. They said they gathered stuff that points directly at PS Prashanth that’s the former president of the Travancore Devaswom Board and advocate A Ajikumar, who used to be on that board. Neither of them were on the initial list of people accused.
The SIT claims these acts weren't just random theft. They happened because of a planned criminal conspiracy. It involves things like breach of trust , forgery , and conspiracy itself. The law the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 says these are all punishable offenses under sections like 316(2), 316(5), 336(2) and 61(2).
They finished looking into the alleged taking of gold from the temple’s door frames. That part is done. But they still need more time. They asked for an extension to investigate something else entirely: the missing gold from the Dwarapalaka idols.
The court looked at what the SIT brought forward. It laid out some details about how this whole thing went down, which was pretty wild. Apparently, those Dwarapalakas, originally covered in gold back in 1998, were moved to Chennai in 2019. Unnikrishnan Potty made that request.
But here’s where things get murky. When they tried to get permission to move the gold from Sannidhanam, the Board officers acted with a clear bad motive. They deliberately lied. They described the gold-clad idols as just copper plates instead of what they really were. They hid the actual gold right there. It was an attempt to strip it and put some thin layer of gold on top.
Later, when the work happened in Chennai, the original gold cladding started to fall apart fast. Only a tiny bit of gold was needed for re-plating. The rest? Allegedly, that’s what the accused took. Misappropriated it.
The court noted something else too. Within months, the plating just fell off, showing the copper underneath. The accused were warned: if they didn't get fresh gold plating done right away, all those shady things from 2019 would come out. So, to hide what happened with the stolen gold in 2019, the sponsor and the people involved made another deal. They conspired again. They transported the Dwarapalakas to Chennai once more, pretending they were just doing fresh plating work.
The court basically listed who was involved after all this digging. It named a bunch of names. Murari Babu, the former Executive Officer at Sabarimala. Unnikrishnan Potty, the sponsor. Pankaj Bhandari, who owned Smart Creations in Chennai. P.S. Prashanth, the former President of the Travancore Devaswom Board. Adv. A. Ajikumar, another former member of that same Board. Sri. Kandararu Rajeevaru, the Chief Priest there at Sabarimala. And Rejilal, who was the former Thiruvabharanam Commissioner for the Travancore Devaswom Board.
The SIT wrapped up its finding: these people acted together in a premeditated criminal conspiracy to commit all those offenses we talked about earlier breach of trust , forgery , and conspiracy under the new laws. It really established their role.
Written by Gree News Team — Senior Editorial Board
Gree News Team covers international news and global affairs at Gree News. Our collective of senior editors is dedicated to providing independent, accurate, and responsible journalism for a global audience.
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