The Kerala High Court-appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the Sabarimala gold theft case has reportedly questioned the prime accused Unnikrishnan Potti, the prime accused in the sensational crime, ostensibly to tie up any possible loose ends concerning the previous Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB)’s decision to re-send the temple’s gold-plated copper panels to Smart Creations, a metal works factory in Chennai, for electroplating in 2025.

Mr. Potti’s questioning last week assumes legal and political significance, as the SIT is scheduled to submit its latest report in the case to the High Court on Monday, even as the highly undercover investigation continues to rivet public attention and remains an animating factor in Kerala politics. 

According to officials privy to the investigation, the SIT was reportedly probing whether the previous Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) administration under the LDF government had cited non-existent defects to dispatch the gold-plated copper panels covering the Dwarapalaka statues flanking the entrance to the sanctum sanctorum to Smart Creations for replating to facilitate the suspected pilferage of gold through an in-house chemical process. 

They noted that SIT officials were sceptical of the decision’s authenticity, given that the TDB had sent the same gold-plated copper panels to Smart Creations in 2019 for repair and refurbishment. The firm then issued a warranty, guaranteeing that the panels would retain their golden sheen for at least 40 years. The firm also promised to repair or replace the panels free of charge if the warranty failed. 

The SIT was also reportedly investigating whether there was any prior criminal intention to defraud the public-owned temple by issuing the warranty in Mr. Potti’s name, and entirely omitting TDB, the temple’s statutory custodian, from the agreement.

For one, according to officials, Smart Creations had issued a 40-year warranty in Mr Potti’s name, and the allegedly ambiguous wording of the agreement tacitly insulated the firm from legal liability for any physical damage during the repair and electroplating processes.

Moreover, the SIT enlisted the help of the National Metallurgical Library under the Centre for Scientific and Industrial Research to compare the original gold covering installed in 1989 with those returned by Smart Creations after electroplating, purportedly to establish a baseline for forensic comparison and possibly to evaluate any “pilferage” of gold.

Notably, the SIT had submitted the report in a closed cover to the High Court’s Devaswom Bench, and laboratory findings remain confidential. Additional Director General of Police H. Venkatesh and SIT’s chief investigating officer S. Sasidharan are leading the investigation.