The Kerala High Court on Friday observed that a substantial portion of gold from the gold-covered ‘Dwarapalaka’ idols of the Sabarimala temple was not returned after the idols were taken for further gold-plating in 2019. The idols, which stand on either side of the sanctum sanctorum, consist of plates that were gold-cladded in 1999. In 2019, one Unnikrishnan Potty sponsored a further gold-plating of the idols and took them from the temple to a Chennai-based firm for this purpose. The High Court observed that when Potty brought the plates back, a substantial portion of the gold that was originally used to cover them was missing. The court noted that Smart Creations, the company to which Potty took the plates, did not have the technology to gold-plate items that were already gold-cladded. The company’s lawyer had earlier confirmed that the company does not do gold-plating on already gold-covered copper plates. However, the court observed that Potty insisted they remove the existing gold from the plate and that an investigation revealed that 474.9 grams of gold had been directly handed over to Potty after gold plating. This was not recorded with the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) — a state-run entity that manages the Sabarimala temple — and the court observed that this raises the possibility that similar misappropriation could have been carried out with regard to other items, too. The High Court, which initiated suo motu proceedings into allegations of missing gold at the Sabarimala temple, had asked the chief vigilance and security officer of the temple to look into the matter. Considering the interim report from the officer, the court also observed that the move by the TDB to hand over the plates to Potty for gold plating was suspicious. The court has previously noted that even though the plates had been gold-cladded in 1999, when they were handed over to Potty, the TDB recorded them simply as copper plates. Before the scandal, Potty was known for facilitating VIP darshan for celebrities and influential persons at the temple. The court said the special investigation team, headed by ADGP (Crime), should also probe whether any anomalies had taken place with regard to gold plating of other items, such as lintels, in the Sabarimala temple. The court said lintels were handed over to Potty for gold plating with the consent of temple priests and senior officials of the TDB. The investigation team has been asked to hand over the probe report to the court and barred it from revealing investigation details to the media.
