The Kerala Police’s special investigation team (SIT) probing the alleged misappropriation and possible replication of gold-plated religious artefacts from Sabarimala Ayyappa Temple in 2019 has reportedly expanded its investigation to Hyderabad in Telangana.
Officials privy to the probe say the SIT appears to have preliminary evidence that the gold-inlaid copper overlays covering the stone carvings and the sculptures of the iconic temple were possibly kept at the house of a wealthy Ayyappa devotee in Hyderabad.
The SIT reportedly suspects that the gilded artefacts earmarked for restoration to their original sheen had taken a protracted detour to the gold-plating industrial unit in Chennai.
The TDB had “questionably” contracted a private person, Unnikrishnan Potty, currently the central focus of the SIT probe and a former temple assistant, in 2019 to restore the fraying gold-plated copper coverings.
According to TDB’s internal Vigilance report submitted to the High Court, Mr. Potty’s deputy had taken custody of the artefacts ostensibly to deposit them at the Chennai factory.
However, the objects reached the facility after an “inexplicable hiatus” of 39 days, raising suspicion about possible duplication of the gold-plated copper casts and the sale of the original artefacts to wealthy collectors for private worship.
Officials said the SIT is tracing the temple artefacts’ itinerary to the Chennai factory. They said investigators have stumbled on social media evidence, including video footage and photographs of the objects at the houses of well-heeled devotees in Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Chennai for private worship.
Meanwhile, investigators are also scouring the Sabarimala temple records to determine the suspected “criminal intent” behind a set of TDB administrators “misleadingly categorising” the gold-plated coverings as made of pure copper while entrusting them to Mr. Potty’s aide for restoration.
Moreover, the SIT is investigating Mr. Potty’s past, including his tenure as a priest at the Jalahalli Ayyappa Temple in Bengaluru, and examining the reasons for his gaining immense traction within the Sabarimala Temple orthodoxy and the TDB.
TDB meeting
Meanwhile, a high-level meeting is on at the TDB headquarters in Thiruvananthapuram. TDB president P.S. Prasanth said the board would request the High Court to direct the SIT to probe temple affairs since 1998, when a former industrialist had donated significant amounts of gold and copper to cover the Ayyappa temple, including its roof, with gilded plates.
He said the TDB also considered action against nine officials indicted by the SIT in the case. “Seven of those named in the FIR are retired. Any action against them will be contingent on whether the court finds them guilty. The TDB has suspended one of the serving officials. Action is under way against the other,” he added.
Mr. Prasanth also said the TDB would petition the High Court for a probe into transactions at the Sabarimala temple since 1999, covering those during the tenures of United Democratic Front (UDF)-appointed TDB presidents and Devaswom Commissioners.
Published – October 14, 2025 02:24 pm IST
