Kochi, Jan 6 (PTI) The SIT investigating the Sabarimala gold loss cases on Tuesday informed the Kerala High Court that its probe has found a “larger plan” by the accused to dismantle other gold-cladded plates from the Lord Ayyappa temple and misappropriate the precious metal from them.
The Special Investigation Team (SIT) further told the HC that it also found a series of serious official misconduct, administrative lapses and a criminal conspiracy to misappropriate the gold from the various artefacts of the Lord Ayyappa shrine.
It made the claims in its statements opposing the bail pleas of former Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) president A Padmakumar and Roddam Pandurangaiah Naga Govardhan, a jeweller based in Ballari, Karnataka.
Both Padmakumar and Govardhan are accused in the two cases related to the loss of gold from the gold-cladded copper plates of the Dwarapalaka (guardian deity) idols and the door frames of the Sreekovil (sanctum sanctorum) of the temple.
The SIT told the High Court that its probe has revealed “a series of serious official misconduct and administrative lapses on the part of the Devaswom officials right from the initial correspondence till the handing over of the door frame plates, connected plates and Dwarapalaka plates and pillar plates to Unnikrishnan Potty without proper authorisation”.
Potty, a Bengaluru-based businessman, is the prime accused in both the cases.
The SIT further said in its statement that Govardhan, Pankaj Bhandari — CEO of Chennai-based Smart Creations that carried out the electroplating of the artefacts from the temple, Potty and the other accused “with malicious intention, hatched criminal conspiracy to criminally misappropriate the gold cladded on the copper plates” in and around the shrine.
“It is found during investigation that all these criminal activities were part of a large conspiracy and an organised crime committed by the accused persons. They had a larger plan to dismantle other gold cladded items on the Sabarimala Sreekovil and to extract the gold on them for misappropriation,” it contended.
Bhandari and Govardhan were arrested on December 19 last year by the SIT.
The SIT also claimed in its statement that analysis of the call detail records (CDR) of Govardhan, Bhandari and Potty revealed that they met in secret at Bengaluru when the case was being considered by the High Court in October last year.
It claimed that the meeting was held to conceal the crime allegedly committed by them in 2019.
Opposing Padmakumar’s bail plea, the SIT contended that he committed grave official misconduct by deliberately making false entries in official correspondences which ultimately led to the misappropriation of gold, thereby causing irreparable unlawful financial loss and reputation to the TDB and corresponding unlawful pecuniary gain to Potty and others.
It further contended that the former TDB president paved the way for Potty and other accused to criminally misappropriate the gold by misrepresenting the gold cladded plates as mere copper plates.
The High Court adjourned the bail pleas of Padmakumar and Govardhan to January 8.
The High Court on Monday had granted the SIT six more weeks to complete the investigation.
The SIT till now has arrested 10 persons in connection with the two cases. PTI HMP SA
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