Sabarimala gold robbery: Two FIRs filed, Unnikrishnan Potty named main accused

In the ongoing row over Sabarimala gold theft, two FIRs have now been filed, one for detracting of gold from the Dwarapalaka sculpture and the other from the door frame.

The FIRs have been registered at the Crime Branch headquarters, as it has to conduct a state-level investigation on the matter. Two FIRs have been registered since these incidents took place at two different times.

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The main accused in both cases is Unnikrishnan Potty and Devaswom officials may also be accused in both the cases.

The gold-plated layers of the Dwarapalaka sculptures were taken away, melted down and stolen in March 2019. The incident of stealing gold from the door frame took place in August 2019. Due to the time difference, the different officers involved in the two incidents, and the different people involved in the conspiracy, the investigation will proceed as two cases. The main crimes alleged in these cases are conspiracy and breach of trust. All the officials who issued orders may be accused in the case . The SIT will later decide whether Devaswom officials and others should also be listed as accused.

Meanwhile, it has been reported that the amount of missing gold is expected to increase. The final report of the Devaswom Vigilance says that 989 grams of gold was missing from Sabarimala. This figure is based only on the statement of Smart Creations CEO Panka Bhandari. However, one and a half kilos of gold, given by UB Group in 1998, was used for plating the Dwarapalaka sculptures.

Smart Creations says that only 577 grams were found in the Dwarapalaka sculptures when they were melted in Chennai in 2019. Then the question then is – where did the remaining gold go?

In addition, Smart Creations claims that 409 grams of gold were found when the 7 layers on the sides were melted and separated. There are no exact records of how much gold was used to plate the layers in 1998. When these two are added together, the weight of the missing gold may increase to more than one and a half kilos.

But the final report says that there is only less than half a kilo of gold. The challenge for the Special Investigation Team is to find the missing gold. The current report is chiefly based on the statement of Smart Creations.