7 months ago
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The Kerala precocious court-appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the “misappropriation” of gold-plated copper moulds covering the chromatic carvings and sculptures astatine the Sabarimala Ayyappa Temple has arrested Unnikrishnan Potti, the premier accused successful the religiously emotive case, aboriginal connected Friday (October 17, 2025).
The archetypal apprehension successful the lawsuit occurred successful the aboriginal hours against the backdrop of an intensifying absorption agitation demanding the resignations of Devaswom Minister V. N. Vasavan and Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) president, P. S. Prasanth.
Location unknown
The SIT had summoned Mr. Potti to the Crime Branch bureau connected Thursday. However, his determination remained chartless to the family, his lawyer, and journalists covering the probe for hours.
Before ceremonial arrest, the SIT escorted Mr. Potti to the General Hospital successful Thiruvananthapuram for a elaborate aesculapian examination. Later, the SIT allowed Mr. Potti to interaction his household and pass them astir his whereabouts.
Inter-State probe
The inter-State probe involving erstwhile Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) officials, Mr. Potti, and the owners of a copper-gold artefacts smelting, electroplating, and restoration steadfast was accelerated unfolding nether wraps, arsenic per the High Court’s strict direction.
Mr. Potti, who worked arsenic the adjunct to a TDB-appointed clergyman astatine Sabarimala successful the aboriginal 2010s, had emerged arsenic the cardinal absorption of the probe aft helium revealed, somewhat intriguingly, successful September that 2 copper-gold overlays helium had donated to the temple successful 2019 were missing.
Startling Revelation
The “startling revelation” rocked the Left Democratic Front (LDF) authorities and formed a shadiness implicit its effort to organise the Global Ayyappa Sanghamam (at Pampa), ostensibly to make Sabarimala. Consequently, the High Court’s part bench, which oversees Sabarimala affairs, ordered a preliminary probe by the TDB’s vigilance.
The contention took a crisp crook with the vigilance recovering the “missing gold-plated panels” from the location of Mr. Potti’s sister successful Thiruvananthapuram.
Manual violation
Later, the vigilance reported to the precocious tribunal that TDB officials had contracted Mr. Potti, fixed the latter’s precocious societal connections and traction with the temple orthodoxy, to reconstruct the gold-copper veneers contributed to the temple successful 1998 by industrialist Vijay Mallya.
The vigilance noted that the TDB had brazenly violated the temple manual by entrusting the spiritual artefacts to a backstage idiosyncratic with an allegedly chequered history.
Protracted detour
Moreover, the portion recovered that the artefacts took a protracted detour of 39 days to scope the restoration mill successful Chennai, raising suspicion of the replication of the panels successful copper and of the imaginable merchantability of the archetypal veneers to a affluent collector for backstage worship.
The vigilance besides underscored an volition to perpetrate a transgression connected the portion of the TDB officials who handed the gold-plated coverings to Mr. Potti’s subordinate aft suspiciously accounting for the objects successful temple ledgers arsenic made of axenic copper. So far, the SIT has named 7 erstwhile and serving TDB officials arsenic accused successful the case.
Custody for questioning
Officials indicated that the SIT would nutrient Mr. Potti earlier a magistrate successful Ranni, Pathanamthitta district, aboriginal successful the time and question his custody for further questioning.
They said the probe was inactive astatine a nascent stage. The SIT was reportedly scouring done Mr Potti’s 2019 mobile telephone records to way the itinerary of the temple artefacts from Sabarimala to the mill via Bengaluru and Hyderabad.
Private worship
The TDB’s interior vigilance told the High Court that en route, the suspects kept the objects astatine the houses of movie stars and celebrities for backstage worship and violated rituals by offering pooja.
Two cases
Officials said the SIT person besides identified the persons who took custody of the temple artefacts from Sabarimala astatine Mr Potti’s instance. Earlier, the SIT had registered 2 FIRs successful the lawsuit successful Pathanamthitta. It named Mr Potti arsenic the premier accused successful some cases.
