Sabarimala gold ‘theft’ case: Kerala SIT arrests prime accused Unnikrishnan Potti

The Special Investigation Team (SIT) appointed by the Kerala high court, probing the “misappropriation” of gold-plated copper molds covering stone carvings and sculptures at the Sabarimala Ayyappa Temple, arrested Unnikrishnan Potti, the prime accused in the religiously emotive case, in the early hours of Friday, October 17, 2025.

The first arrest in the case took place in the early hours in the backdrop of intense opposition agitation demanding the resignation of Devaswom Minister VN Vasavan and Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) chairman PS Prasanth.

Location unknown

The SIT had summoned Mr Potti to the Crime Branch office on Thursday. However, his location was unknown for hours to his family, lawyer and journalists following the investigation.

Before formal arrest, the SIT escorted Mr. Potti to the General Hospital in Thiruvananthapuram for a detailed medical examination. The SIT then allowed Mr Potti to contact his family and inform them of his whereabouts.

interstate investigation

The inter-state investigation involving former Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) officials Mr. Potti and the owners of a copper-gold artefact smelting, electroplating and restoration firm was rapidly unfolding in secret under the strict directions of the Supreme Court.

Mr Potti, who worked as an assistant to a TDB-appointed priest at Sabarimala in the early 2010s, had become the central focus of the investigation after the somewhat intriguing revelation in September that two copper-gold plating he had donated to the temple in 2019 were missing.

Surprising Revelation

The “surprising revelation” shook the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government and cast a shadow over its attempt to organize the Global Ayyappa Sanghamam (in Pampa) ostensibly to develop Sabarimala. As a result, the Supreme Court bench overseeing Sabarimala affairs ordered a preliminary inquiry under the supervision of the TDB.

The controversy took a sharp turn following caution over the discovery of “missing gold-plated panels” at Mr Potti’s sister’s house in Thiruvananthapuram.

Manual violation

Later, the vigilance authority informed the high court that TDB officials had contracted Mr. Potti to restore the gold-copper coverings contributed to the temple by industrialist Vijay Mallya in 1998, given Mr. Potti’s high social connections and involvement with the temple orthodoxy.

The vigilant team noted that TDB had blatantly violated the temple guidelines by entrusting the religious artefacts to a private individual who allegedly had a checkered past.

long winding road

Moreover, the unit found that the artefacts took a long route of 39 days to reach the restoration factory in Chennai; This raised suspicion that the panels were copied from copper and that the original coatings could be sold to a wealthy collector for private worship.

The caution also underlined a criminal intent on the part of TDB officials, who handed over the gold-plated coverings to Mr. Potti’s associate after dubiously declaring that the objects in the temple books were made of pure copper. The SIT has so far named seven former and serving TDB officials as accused in the case.

Detained for questioning

The SIT will produce Mr. Potti before a magistrate at Ranni in Pathanamthitta district later in the day and seek his custody for further interrogation, officials said.

They said the investigation was still in its early stages. The SIT has reportedly examined Mr. Potti’s 2019 mobile phone records to trace the route of the temple artefacts from Sabarimala to the factory via Bengaluru and Hyderabad.

private worship

TDB’s internal audit told the Supreme Court that the suspects along the way hid objects for private worship at the homes of film stars and celebrities and violated rituals by offering poop.

two cases

The SIT also identified the persons who seized the temple artefacts from Sabarimala on Mr. Potti’s request, officials said. Earlier, the SIT had registered two FIRs in the case in Pathanamthitta. He named Mr. Potti as the primary defendant in both cases.