Sabarimala gold theft case: SIT weighs invoking anti-corruption Act as probe nears TDB higher-ups

The Kerala High Court-appointed special investigation team (SIT) probing the pilferage of the gold-plated copper panels from the Sabarimala Ayyappa temple in 2019 is reportedly weighing whether to bring retired and serving Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) officials indicted in the sensational case, including high-profile political appointees, under the ambit of the Prevention of Corruption Act. 

Officials say that if so, the SIT will likely file a report with the Inquiry Commissioner and Special Judge (Vigilance), Kollam, which also has jurisdiction over Pathanamthitta district.

The SIT’s move assumes political and legal significance as the high-profile investigation edges closer to higher-ups in the TDB.

Officials say the SIT had sought the High Court’s prior sanction to invoke the Act to plug potential legal loopholes, such as the probable complexity of proving that the indicted TDB officials had a direct inculpatory role in the alleged embezzlement.

Officials say the SIT might seek to prosecute TDB officials by charging them with corrupt intent under the Act for “wilfully miscategorising” the gilded panels covering the temple’s stone carvings and sculptures before they handed them over to Unnikrishnan Potti, the prime accused, for “refurbishment”.

The SIT has claimed in its court filings that the “official misrepresentation” of the gold-plated panels as copper coverings was a deliberate move to accord an undue pecuniary advantage to Mr. Potti and also to provide him a legal shield against potential prosecution if and when the pilferage came to light.

The SIT’s supposed move to apply the Act also comes against the backdrop of its reported move to question Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] leader and former TDB president K. Padmakumar. 

Mr Padmakumar was the TDB president when N. Vasu served as Devasom Commissioner. Notably, the SIT had arrested and obtained judicial remand of Mr Vasu, also a former TDB president.

The SIT case was that the miscategorisation of gilded panels on temple records as copper encasings laid the ground for the “elaborate crime”.

In the court filings, the SIT has said Mr Potti had chartered out the encasings to wealthy devotees and donors for private worship for sizeable backhanders.

It was also investigating whether Mr Potti and his “accomplices” smelted the gilded panels for the gold or replicated the moulds in a cheaper alloy to sell the originals to wealthy collectors.

So far, the SIT has made five arrests, including Mr Potti and four TDB officials, both retired and serving, in the case.