The Kerala High Court-appointed special investigation team (SIT) probing the “misappropriation” of gold-plated copper moulds covering the stone carvings and sculptures at the Sabarimala Ayyappa temple has detained a Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) official for questioning.
According to officials, a plainclothes SIT team detained Murari Babu at his house in Perunna, Kottayam, late Wednesday night. They said SIT officials were questioning him at the Kerala Police Crime Branch office at Enchakkal, Thiruvananthapuram.
Earlier, the SIT had arraigned Mr Babu as an accused in the case based on a TDB internal Vigilance report.
The internal audit wing had held Mr Murari responsible for allegedly providing a false report that the gilded overlays, earmarked for restoration in 2019, contained no gold and were made of pure copper before handing them over to Unnikrishnan Potti, the prime suspect, for repair.
The politically tempestuous and religiously emotive case came to light after Mr Potti “revealed” in the run-up to the TDB-sponsored Global Ayyappa Sanghamam in September that four gold-plated panels he had donated to the temple in 2019 were missing.
The TDB Vigilance, which probed the allegation, recovered the panels from the house of Mr Potti’s sister in Thiruvananthapuram, prompting the High Court to order an SIT probe into all TDB transactions involving Mr Potti.
The TDB Vigilance had also told the court that the gilded panels weighed substantially less when they were returned to the temple after restoration in a metal works unit in Chennai. Mr Potti and his associates had taken possession of the coverings in 2019, promising the board that they would overhaul them for free.
The SIT case is that Mr Potti kept the gilded casings in his custody for 39 days, raising suspicion that he might have replicated the moulds and sold the originals to a wealthy collector for private worship.
It also stumbled upon video evidence showing that Mr Potti had leased out the artefacts to wealthy devotees, including film stars, for private worship for sizeable backhanders.
Probe shifts
The SIT probe shifted focus to Mr Murari after the unit detained Mr Potti, who is now in police custody. The SIT claims that Mr Murari facilitated the fraud by misreporting the metallurgical composition of the gilded coverings before they were handed over to Mr Potti for repair.
The TDB had suspended Mr Babu from service pending inquiry after the scandal broke. The Nair Service Society (NSS) has expelled Mr Babu from its primary membership. He was the NSS’ Perunna taluk union vice president for years.
The SIT is also probing Mr Potti’s accomplices in the crime. It has arraigned nine serving and retired TDB officials as accused in the case.
Potti’s antecedents
The SIT investigation is also reportedly focussed on ferreting out how Mr Potti, who worked as an assistant to a lower-level priest at the Sabarimala temple during the 2004-2008 period, had gained traction with the temple orthodoxy and administration and became an inside person bringing in donations from wealthy devotees and organising expensive pujas and feasts.
The SIT probe also centres on the suspicion that Mr Potti might have smelted the metal casings for their gold or replicated the overlays and sold the originals to a wealthy collector for original worship.
The SIT has also brought two former TDB presidents and Devaswom Commissioners, all political appointees, under the ambit of its probe. The SIT is investigating them for possible complicity or criminal oversight.