Pathanamthitta (Kerala): A local court in Ranni here on Friday granted custody of Unnikrishnan Potty, the prime accused in the Sabarimala gold missing case, to the SIT probing the matter.
The Judicial First Class Magistrate Court granted the custody of Potty to the Special Investigation Team (SIT) till October 30.
The accused claimed he had been ‘trapped’ by someone.
Potti, a Bengaluru-based businessman who was taken into custody from his residence near Thiruvananthapuram, was arrested after a nearly 12-hour interrogation at the Crime Branch office on Thursday, sources told news agency PTI.
Potti was taken to the Thiruvananthapuram General Hospital for a medical examination. He would be shifted to Pathanamthitta by afternoon, and produced before a court in Ranni later in the day.
The SIT constituted by the Kerala High Court will seek Potti’s custody for detailed interrogation. It is currently investigating two cases — one concerning the missing gold from the Dwarapalaka idols and another related to the loss of gold from the Sreekovil door frames.
SIT officials are also looking into the involvement of Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) members and officials in the handing over of gold-clad copper plates of the Dwarapalaka (guardian deity) idols and the Sreekovil (sanctum sanctorum) door frames to Potti for electroplating in 2019.
The plates of the Dwarapalaka idols were removed on July 19, 2019, and it was taken to Bengaluru to Unnikrishnan Potty’s friend’s house, kept there for some days, and then taken to Hyderabad for maintenance. It was taken to Smart Creations for gold plating only on August 29, 2019.
According to an NDTV report, Potti admitted during interrogation that the gold robbery was planned and claimed that TDB officials were aware of the plan. He said the stolen gold was shared among TDB members.
Another individual, identified as a middleman named Kalpesh, is considered a key figure in the conspiracy. The SIT has also suspected the possible involvement of Smart Creations, the company responsible for the recent plating of lentils and the doorkeepers at the Sabarimala Temple.
Meanwhile, BJP leader Rajeev Chandrasekhar called for the resignation of State Devaswom Minister V N Vasavan. “If CM @pinarayivijayan continues to refer to devaswom corruption as slip-up, we will demand a CBI and ED investigation into the Sabarimala gold scam! Minister V. N. Vasavan must resign! The Devaswom Board must be dissolved!” he said on X.
