Sabarimala Gold Loss: Kerala High Court Flags Misappropriation In Sideframes Of Sanctum, Orders SIT To Investigate On That Aspect Also

The Kerala High Court on Friday (October 10) flagged alleged gold loss in the lintels/sideframes of the Sreekovil of Sabarimala temple and ordered the SIT to investigate into the same as well.

The Division Bench comprising Justice Raja Vijayaraghavan V. and Justice K.V. Jayakumar today observed:

"From the investigation so far conducted, it appears that in so far as sideframes/lintel, similar misappropriation of gold has been carried out. It is also revealed from the report that substantial quantity of gold, amounting about 474.9 gm, was handed over directly to Sri. Unnikrishnan Potti. The records do not reveal that the aforesaid quantity of gold was entrusted with the Travancore Devaswom Board. In view of the above revelation with regard to the sideframe/lintels, the aforesaid aspects are also to be investigated by the SIT in addition to all other aspects which may come up in the course of investigation...It would be open to the SIT to decide as to whether separate crimes have be registered in so far as dwarapalakas as well as the lintels."

During the last hearing, the Court had constituted a Special Investigation Team to investigate the alleged discrepancies in the weight of gold in the Dwarapalaka idols of Sabarimala temple.

The Court interacted with Sri. S. Sasidharan, Assistant Director (Administration) Kerala Police Academy, who is heading the investigation under the overall supervision of H. Venkatesh (ADGP Crime Branch).

During the interaction, it was requested that additional assistance of certain officers of the Crime Branch was also required in order to comply with the direction of the Court to conclude the investigation in a time-bound manner. The Chief Vigilance and Security officer had also submitted a report on the investigation so far conducted.

"The report which has been placed before us by the Chief Vigilance and Security officer shall be placed before the Travancore Devaswom Board today itself. The TDB shall forward the report to the State Police Chief. The State Police Chief shall direct Sri. H. Venkatesh, ADGP Crime Branch, to register a crime and carry out the investigation according to law. The SIT shall endeavour to submit a report before this court at at a date, not later than 6 weeks. If the ADGP so wants, he can seek for co-opting other officers and if such a request is made, the addl. respondent (State Police Chief) shall comply with the same. We expect the SIT to conduct a thorough, impartial and expeditious investigation to ensure that the perpetrators are brought to justice...They shall endeavour to file a status report before this Court in a sealed cover once in two weeks," the Court added.

The Court also deemed it appropriate that copy of the records ordered to be seized be kept in its safe custody. Keeping this in mind, it added:

"...We had ordered the seizure of the entire records relating to the Dwarapalakas. Now we have come across instances of wrongdoings in so far as the side frames are concerned, all the records which have been seized, copy of all the records to be submitted to the Registrar General of this Court for safe custody. In respect to all documents reference to which have been made by this Court in the earlier orders."

Flagging the issue of contradicting and false media reports being circulated, the Court further ordered the investigating team not to interact with the public or the media. The Court remarked:

"We already made it clear that the officers of the team shall be directly answerable to this Court...They shall also refrain from divulging any sort of information to the public or the media until the investigation is completed...We concur that it is the right of the public to know current information which is served by the print and electronic media. It is also undisputed that every person standing trial before the court is entitled to open, speedy and fair trial. It cannot also disputed that...public has an interest in trials. However, what we have come to note is that people who have only fleeting acquaintance into the matters are being interviewed by the media and contradictory reports are being placed... People who have access to a mobile or video camera has also telecasted matters which probably may infringe the vantage of the accused as well as appropriate investigation into the matter. We exhort the media to refrain from sensationalising the entire issue until the entire truth of the matter is revealed by the diligent and senior officers...with this request, we post the matter after 10 days."

After pronouncing the order, the Court orally remarked, "We have requested the media to just show some...just let these people do the work...Whatever we mentioned is based on the records which are available and the statements before this Court. We have not mentioned anything which is not in the records...this man is entitled to a fair trial."

The alleged loss of weight of gold came to light during the Court's intervention while considering a suo motu petition initiated on the basis of a report of the Special Commissioner stating that the Gold-cladded copper covering of the Dwarapalaka idols and the Peedam on which the idols were fixed, were removed without prior intimation to it.

Hearing the same, the Court suo motu impleaded the State Police Chief as an additional respondent in the case.

The Travancore Core Devaswom Board (TDB), with sponsorship from devotee Unnikrishnan Potty (7th respondent), had sent the items to Smart Creations (8th respondent) for electroplating.

The Court had noted during an earlier hearing that the weight of the gold had reduced by around 4kg after the idols were handed over to the 7th respondent on an earlier occasion, in 2019.

Case Title: Suo Motu v State of Kerala

Case No: SSCR 23/ 2025

Counsel for Respondents: S. Rajmohan (Sr. GP), G. Biju, R. Sudhish, M. Manju, K.B. Pradeep, Kshema Elizabeth Samuel, Aneeta Nirmal Mamen

Amicus Curiae: Sayujya Radhkrishnan

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