Sabarimala ‘missing gold’: Kerala High Court puts focus on ‘larger conspiracy’

The court said, “The SIT shall examine every facet of the matter and ascertain the role and complicity, if any, of each officer of the TDB, from the highest echelons downwards.”

Tuesday’s court proceedings, including the interactions with SIT officials, were held in-camera. The next hearing is scheduled for November 5.

“In view of the grave nature of the offences involved,” the court said, the minutes book of the TDB should be kept in the safe custody of the Registrar General.

Observing that one of the statutory obligations of the TDB is to exercise effective supervision and control over its administrative officials and employees, the court said, “The higher officials of the board cannot absolve themselves of responsibility or shift the blame onto subordinate officers, for each of them bore a collective duty to ensure that the sacred valuables of the deity were neither pilfered nor wasted.”

Last week, the SIT, which was constituted by the High Court, registered two criminal cases related to the alleged pilferage of gold from items at the temple.

Subsequently, Unnikrishnan Potty, who sponsored the proposed gold-plating of already gold-clad items from the temple in 2019, was arrested. The court has previously referred to him as a person of dubious antecedents. Several TDB officials and former TDB president Padmakumar, who is also a CPI(M) leader, have been listed as accused in the criminal cases.

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