Sabarimala gold theft case: SIT to grill Dindigal-based businessman with alleged links to illegal antique trade

The Kerala High Court-appointed special investigation team (SIT) is reportedly poised to summon a Dindigal-based businessperson, who allegedly goes by several aliases, including D. Mani, in connection with the misappropriation of gold-plated artefacts from the Sabarimala Ayyappa Temple. 

Officials said the SIT had interviewed Mr Mani in his office last week, based on a statement from a non-resident Keralite businessperson that sought to link the Tamil Nadu resident to the illegal trade in religious artefacts, including those of supposed antique value. 

The SIT was yet to name Mr Mani as an accused in the case. Mr Mani has protested his innocence to Kerala journalists who visited him in Dindigul. Officials said the SIT will likely summon Mr Mani to the Kerala Police Crime Branch office at Eenchakkal, Thiruvananthapuram, for further questioning. 

However, officials said the NRK’s deposition, given at the behest of former Kerala Home Minister and senior Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala, has opened a new line of inquiry, requiring more time and possibly additional investigators. 

They said the Crime Branch will likely approach the Kerala High Court to seek permission to expand the SIT and extend the deadline for filing the final report in the case. 

Mr Mani had emerged as the latest focus of the investigation after the NRK alleged that the former had contacted wealthy collectors claiming to have idols and other high-value religious artefacts for sale. 

Antecedents being verified

Officials said the SIT was verifying Mr Mani’s antecedents, including any links to Unnikrishnan Potti, the prime accused in the case. Moreover, the SIT has reportedly interviewed several acquaintances of Mr Mani in Tamil Nadu, possibly to profile him based on their character statements. 

Officials said the SIT suspects its investigation might meander into inter-State rackets that palm off ordinary everyday objects, including metal pots and idols, as rare treasures with magical properties to unsophisticated, overeager wealthy collectors for significant sums of money. 

They noted that the Tamil Nadu and Kerala Police had registered several cases involving the use of pseudoscience to mislead buyers into believing that the vessels they hoped to sell were made of rare alloys with supernatural properties. 

An official said the “rice-puller” scam, which targeted impressionable wealthy collectors in Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, involved the clever use of hidden magnets and rice grains mixed with minute iron shavings to stage fake “magical” demonstrations to persuade prospective buyers. 

An investigator said the SIT was reluctant to pursue such lines of investigation without hard evidence linking such rackets to the Sabarimala gold theft.