Sabarimala sponsor’s mail on using gold for wedding a ‘deeply disturbing’ revelation: Kerala High Court

Last month, the High Court initiated suo motu proceedings following a report that the Dwarapalaka idols at the temple were removed and taken to Chennai for a further gold covering, just six years after the previous gold-plating, without prior consent from the court.

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Subsequently, the court last week appointed former judge K T Sankaran to prepare an inventory of all valuables at the temple and asked the temple vigilance officer to investigate and “expose all malpractices” at the temple.

After going through the latest report from the vigilance officer, the court on Monday said the findings pointed to several criminal offences having been committed. The court said a thorough investigation is required “to ensure that the actual perpetrators are brought to justice and that every aspect relating to the Dwarapalakas is fully brought to light”.

An earlier report by the vigilance officer to the High Court had said that the gold covering of the Dwarapalaka idols was removed without informing the court, and that the idols weighed around 4 kg less when they were returned following gold-plating in 2019. The 2019 gold-plating was sponsored by Unnikrishnan Potty, who himself took the idols to the firm, Smart Creations, in Chennai to get the gold-plating done, officials have said. However, the idols were already gold-clad in 1999, using gold donated by businessman Vijay Mallya. But Smart Creations’ lawyer recently said the plates they received for gold-plating were copper and did not have gold cladding on them.

On Monday, the court said, “The responsibility does not rest solely with Potty and Smart Creations, Chennai, but extends also to certain officers of the Travancore Devaswom Board (the state-run body that manages the temple). The records clearly reveal that TDB officers were privy to the transactions and to the unlawful handing over of gold, in flagrant violation of the Devaswom Manual.”

The court also noted that Potty, after the gold plating in 2019, had informed the TDB via mail that he had a balance of gold in his possession and wanted to use it for a wedding. “This revelation is deeply disturbing and exposes the extent of the impropriety involved. It unmistakably demonstrates the alarming manner in which certain Devaswom officials had acted in concert with Potty, betraying both the sanctity of temple property and the trust reposed in them by the devotees,” the court said.

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The court said the idols handed over to Potty in 2019 for gold covering were not mere copper plates, but had been gold-clad in 1999. “This revelation fundamentally alters the complexion of the case and brings within its fold the ingredients of the offences of theft, criminal misappropriation and criminal breach of trust,” the court said.

It also said the reduction in the recorded weight of approximately 4.5 kg when the items were returned after “gold-plating” in 2019 is a matter of extreme gravity. “In view of these findings, we observed that accountability must be fixed, and appropriate action initiated against all responsible. It can now be unmistakably concluded that the gold-cladding executed through traditional methods in 1998–99, sponsored by the United Breweries Group, utilised more than 1.5 kilograms of gold for the Dwarapalakas alone,” the court said.

The court had found that when the gold-cladded plates were handed over to Potty in 2019, they were recorded as copper plates. The judges observed, “Our earlier apprehension that the items refixed at the sanctum sanctorum were a different set of copper plates now appears fully justified in light of the foregoing facts. There also appears to be a distinct and grave possibility that the original gold-cladded Dwarapalakas were disposed of to a willing purchaser for a substantial monetary consideration, and that the proceeds thereof were misappropriated by those responsible for the fraud. Only a detailed, meticulous, and professionally conducted investigation can unravel the full extent of the wrongdoing and bring to light all facets of this matter,’’ said the bench.