The Special Investigation Team (SIT), probing the alleged theft of gold assets at the Sabarimala temple, has unearthed evidence suggesting that the first accused, Unnikrishnan Bute, and officials of the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB), which runs the temple, entered into a criminal conspiracy to transport ‘Dwarapalaka’ (guardian) idols to Chennai under the guise of replating the gold in 2025 to conceal the alleged misappropriation. Gold committed in 2019
The main findings of the SIT’s investigations were submitted before the Kerala High Court in an interim situation report on Monday, nearly 10 months after allegations of misappropriation of gold from temple door frames and guardian idols first surfaced.
Another major development in the investigation is that the special investigation team has “collected overwhelming material” against PS Prasanth, who served as TDB chairman between 2023 and 2025, in connection with the decision of Potty and the board to send the guardian idols to Chennai-based Smart Creations for alleged repainting last year.
Prasanth, along with the other accused – Kandararu Rajivararu (head priest), Pankaj Bhandari, owner of Smart Creations, Murari Babu, CEO of Sabarimala, A Ajikumar, TDB member, and Rejilal, commissioner of Thiruvabharanam – will be charged with offenses including breach of trust, forgery and criminal conspiracy, the apex court told the apex court.
A bench of Justices Raja Vijayaraghavan V and KK Jayakumar allowed the SIT to register a fresh case or file further reports regarding the transportation of guardian idols to Chennai in 2025 under the guise of repainting gold.
A fake warranty certificate was issued
In its case report, the SIT said the gold-clad guardian idols were deliberately documented by TDB officials, in collusion with the potty, as copper plates to facilitate alleged misappropriation of the original gold and its replacement with only a thin layer of gold plating.
According to the report, at Smart Creations in Chennai, the original gold cladding was removed, a small amount of gold was used for repainting, and the remaining gold was allegedly stolen.
“Despite the poor quality of the work done, a certificate falsely proving that the gold plating carried a forty-year warranty was issued to ensure that there was no doubt. However, within a few months, the gold plating deteriorated, exposing the underlying copper surface. If the gold was not freshly plated, the suspicious acts committed in 2019 would be exposed,” the apex court observed while referring to the findings of the special court.
“The potty has gained Prasanth’s trust.”
The SIT said that soon after Prasanth took over as TDB chairman in November 2023, Potti managed to gain his trust and “induced him to exercise his authority” to carry out the alleged conspiracy with other board officials.
The TDB members, entrusted with protecting the temple assets, facilitated the transportation of the guardian idols to Chennai in violation of the Devaswom Manual and specific directions issued by the Supreme Court, the report said.
“The material collected during the investigation also reveals that the officials and directors were fully aware, through communications exchanged with Unnikrishnan Buti, that he continued to retain the remaining amount of gold retained after the original gold cladding was removed in 2019 and subsequent replacement exercise was carried out,” the high court order said.
The court ordered the special investigation team to continue the investigation to its logical conclusion and ensure that “no stone is left unturned” in uncovering the full truth. The case was postponed for hearing on July 20.
