Kerala SIT arrests Bengaluru businessman in Sabarimala gold probe

A Special Investigation Team constituted by the Kerala High Court arrested Bengaluru businessman Unnikrishnan Potty on Friday as part of a probe into gold allegedly missing from the Sabarimala temple’s sanctum sanctorum, officials said. Potty was taken into custody from his residence near Thiruvananthapuram on Thursday, questioned at the Crime Branch office and formally arrested after interrogation, police sources said. He was later examined at a government hospital and is to be produced before a court in Ranni, Pathanamthitta, where investigators will seek custody for further questioning.

The SIT is investigating two cases transferred from the Crime Branch: one alleging gold was misappropriated from the Dwarapalaka guardian deity idols and another involving the Sreekovil door frames. The team has obtained documents from the Travancore Devaswom Board and records from Smart Creations in Chennai, the firm that performed electroplating on the items in 2019, police sources said. The Kerala High Court has given the SIT six weeks to complete the inquiry.

The probe follows a Travancore Devaswom Board Vigilance report that found goldclad copper plates removed from the temple in 2019...