Sabarimala gold-cover scandal: Prime accused arrested, SIT to seek custody

Prime accused in Sabarimala gold artefact case arrested amid opposition protests

October 17, 2025

Sabarimala gold-cover scandal: prime accused arrested, SIT to seek custody

Political storm erupts as prime accused held in Sabarimala gold-cover misappropriation case

The Kerala High Court-appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the alleged misappropriation of gold-plated copper coverings from the revered Sabarimala Ayyappa Temple arrested Unnikrishnan Potti, the prime accused in the case, early Friday morning.

The arrest — the first in the high-profile investigation — comes amid mounting opposition protests demanding the resignations of Devaswom Minister V. N. Vasavan and Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) president P. S. Prasanth over alleged administrative lapses.

Before being formally taken into custody, Mr. Potti was taken to the Thiruvananthapuram General Hospital for a medical check-up and was later allowed to inform his family of his arrest, officials said.

The unfolding probe

The Kerala High Court had constituted the SIT to investigate allegations that gold-plated copper moulds covering stone carvings and sculptures at the Sabarimala Temple were misused or replaced. The inquiry, which spans multiple states, involves former and serving TDB officials and the owners of a Chennai-based artefact restoration firm.

Mr. Potti, who once served as an assistant to a TDB-appointed priest at Sabarimala, became the central figure in the investigation after he publicly claimed in September that two gold-plated panels he had donated to the temple in 2019 had gone missing.

The revelation triggered a political storm, forcing the High Court to order a preliminary probe by the TDB’s vigilance wing. The ensuing investigation led to the recovery of the “missing” panels from the residence of Mr. Potti’s sister in Thiruvananthapuram.

Alleged violations and irregularities

According to vigilance findings submitted to the court, TDB officials had engaged Mr. Potti to restore gold-copper veneers originally donated to the temple in 1998 by industrialist Vijay Mallya. The officials allegedly ignored temple manual procedures by entrusting the task to a private individual with a questionable record.

The investigation also uncovered a 39-day delay in transporting the artefacts from Sabarimala to a Chennai restoration facility — a gap that raised suspicions of replication and possible sale of the original gold veneers to private collectors.

The vigilance unit further alleged that the artefacts were falsely recorded as pure copper in temple ledgers and that some of the coverings were used for private poojas at celebrity residences en route to Chennai, violating temple rituals.

Next steps

The SIT plans to produce Mr. Potti before a magistrate in Ranni, Pathanamthitta district, later on Friday and seek his custody for interrogation. Officials said they are examining his 2019 mobile phone records to trace the artefacts’ movement through Bengaluru and Hyderabad.

So far, seven serving and former TDB officials have been named as accused in the case.

For all the latest updates, download PGurus App.