Thiruvananthapuram4 minutes ago
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The Kerala High Court on Friday said that from the investigation so far it appears that gold has been misappropriated from the two idols (gatekeepers) kept at the gate of Sabarimala temple. The court directed to register a criminal case in the matter and the Special Investigation Team (SIT) to start investigation.
A bench of Justices Raja Vijayaraghavan V and KV Jayakumar also directed the SIT to file the investigation report within six weeks and submit the status report of the investigation once every two weeks. The court said that no information related to the investigation should be leaked.
The bench further said that the investigation so far has revealed that a large quantity of gold was entrusted to Unnikrishnan Potti (the sponsor offering the gold plating). The court said that approximately 474.9 grams of gold was given to Potti. However, the records do not reveal that this much gold was handed over to (by) the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB).
Earlier on Monday, the Kerala High Court had expressed concern over the theft of gold from the idols of the gatekeepers of Sabarimala temple. The High Court said during the hearing that the email sent by Unnikrishnan Potti, the main accused in the case, to the TDB Chairman shows that everything is not going well in TDB.
The High Court mentioned Unnikrishnan’s email. In this he had written to the TDB Chairman that after offering gold plates on the main gate of the temple and the statues of the gatekeepers, there is some gold left, which I want to donate to the wedding of a needy girl. I need TDB’s support in this.
High Court constituted SIT A bench of Justices Raja Vijayaraghavan V and KV Jayakumar has constituted a SIT to investigate the matter. It will submit the report in six weeks. The SIT will report directly to the court. It will also ensure that the investigation is conducted with utmost confidentiality and honesty.
The court said that the idols handed over to Potti for gold plating in 2019 did not merely have copper plates, but they had been gold plated in 1999. The court said – Due to this disclosure, a case of theft has been made out.
The court said-
This revelation is disturbing. This shows that TDB officials are also in collusion with Potti. For this, not only Potti and Smart Creations, but also some TDB officials are responsible. The records clearly show that the officials were aware of the transactions and illegal transfer of gold.
The gold plate below this gatekeeper statue had gone missing.
TDB suspends commissioner B Murari The TDB of Sabarimala temple on Tuesday suspended Haripad Deputy Devaswom Commissioner B Murari Babu pending investigation. According to the board, Babu had submitted a report to the Sabarimala Executive Officer on July 17, 2019. In this he had wrongly described the gold statues installed on both sides of the entrance of the temple as copper. The board considered this a serious mistake.
On the other hand, Babu denied the allegations. Babu claimed that in 2019 he had given a preliminary report after taking the opinion of the temple tantri. In the report it was written as copper plate because in reality copper was clearly visible. Therefore instructions were given to offer gold.
Now know this whole matter In 2019, Unnikrishnan Potti had obtained TDB approval to provide gold plating to the temple idols and valuables at his own expense. TDB had handed over these items weighing 42.8 kg to Potti’s company Smart Creations, Chennai.
Potti handed them over to TDB in 2020. After this, Potti himself had alleged that the Peedams of the idols were missing from the temple. After this came to light, Kerala High Court issued a notice. Peedam (or Peetham) in South India is the base on which the idol of a god or goddess is placed. It can be of any metal or a layer of gold is plated on it.
High Court reprimanded TDB earlier also, 3 hearings till now
The Division Bench of Justices Raja Vijayaraghavan V and Justice KV Jayakumar came down heavily on TDB during the hearing in the case on September 29. Said that the board did not maintain proper register of valuables of the temple, which helped in hiding the irregularities.
The court said that records of jewelery and coins offered by devotees are maintained in a register, in which description, date, receipt and quality are written, but there is no record of other things like Kodimaram, Dwarapalaka idols, Peedam.
The court noted that there was no entry of giving these goods to anyone. While reinstalling the Dwarapalaka idols, their weight was also not recorded, which was done deliberately so that the shortage of 4 kg of gold would not be revealed.
Registers for gold plating on roof also missing
The court said that the register of the work of applying gold layer on the roof of Srikovil in 1999 is also missing. According to the artisans, more than 30 kg of gold was used then, but there is no official record.
The court directed that a complete inventory and evaluation of all the valuables of the temple should be done with the help of experts. The negligence of Devaswom Board officials should also be investigated. The next hearing of the case will now take place at the end of October.
