Acting on the Kerala High Court’s directive, the Crime Branch has launched an investigation and registered a case against former Travancore Devaswom Board President A. Padmakumar and his then board members over the alleged theft of gold from the Sabarimala temple.
Unnikrishnan Potti, the individual who allegedly removed the gold layers from the Dwarapalaka idols at the temple is the primary accused. Nine Devaswom officials have also been charged. The accused include: B. Murari Babu (Sabarimala Administrative Officer in 2019), Executive Officer Sudheeshkumar, Devaswom Secretary S. Jayashree, Assistant Engineer K. Sunilkumar, Administrative Officer Sreekumar, Thiruvabharanam Commissioners K.S. Baiju and R.G. Radhakrishnan, Executive Officer Rajendraprasad, and Administrative Officer K. Rajendran Nair.
They have been booked under non-bailable offences including pilferage, cheating, looting and conspiracy. An FIR has been lodged in relation to the pilferage and looting of the golden layers of the Dwarapalaka idols and the door frames.
Meanwhile, senior BJP leader and former Union Minister V. Muraleedharan has sought clarification on the rationale behind entrusting the son of former Devaswom President A. Padmakumar with the task of adding gold to the Yoga Danda and Rudraksha of the Sabarimala shrine. He asserted that “Sabarimala is not anyone’s family property” and that the Devaswom’s assets must not be exploited for personal motives.
Muraleedharan pressed: who is this ‘God-like’ person Padmakumar refers to as the perpetrator of the loot? He stated, “It should be clarified whether it is Kadakampally Surendran. The High Court has ordered that a criminal case be registered and probed. This is a very serious matter.”
Earlier, on October 10, the High Court had clarified that approximately 475 grams of gold were found missing from the gold plates at Sabarimala. The court directed that a case be registered and investigated, and called for an impartial probe into the vigilance findings. The State Police Chief was also made a party to the case. The High Court’s intervention followed its scrutiny of the matter.
The Sabarimala gold case has witnessed several twists and turns. Reports indicate that copper layers, not gold, were presented for plating to Smart Creations, and that the original gold plating on the temple’s structures had either faded or disappeared over time.
In 2019, Unnikrishnan Potti and others allegedly transported 47 kilograms of copper layers to Smart Creations, where 897 grams of gold were reportedly used for replating. Officials of the Travancore Devaswom Board are said to have accompanied them while collecting the plated layers.
Further questions have arisen regarding the fate of the gold donations originally made by Vijay Mallya—reportedly 30 kilograms of gold and 1,900 kilograms of copper—which were meant for plating the shrine’s roof and the Dwarapalaka idols. The report suggests that documentation relating to these donations was initially declared missing, but was later recovered from the Public Works Department of the Devaswom Board.
Senior BJP leader V. Muraleedharan has strongly criticised the sequence of events, demanding accountability and a central agency investigation, while alleging collusion between Devaswom Board officials and political figures, including Kadakampally Surendran and A. Padmakumar.
As investigations deepen, scrutiny continues to mount over both the original gold donations and the chain of custody of the replated layers.
The CPM government, which proudly professes atheism, has long displayed a pattern of hostility towards Hindu beliefs and rituals. Yet, its actions often reveal a marked bias—overtly appeasing Islamic and Christian groups while treating Hindu sentiments with disregard. The Sabarimala episode remains a stark example: the communist regime under Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan extended full support for women’s entry into the shrine under the pretext of implementing Supreme Court orders, disregarding the centuries-old traditions of devotees.
This interference is not limited to Sabarimala. The systematic mismanagement of Devaswom Boards, the placement of political proxies in temple committees, and the control of temple administration have become hallmarks of the Left government’s approach. Moreover, scandals such as the Karuvannur Cooperative Bank scam and a series of financial and administrative failures have further exposed the inefficiency and moral decay of the state machinery.
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