- By Soumyaroop Mukherjee
- Mon, 06 Oct 2025 03:04 PM (IST)
- Source:JND
A Special Investigation Team (SIT) will probe the alleged irregularities related to the reduced weight of gold-clad copper plates of the Dwarapalaka (guardian deity) idols at Sabarimala, ordered the Kerala High Court on Monday.
The order was delivered by a bench of Justices Raja Vijayaraghavan V and K V Jayakumar after an interim report on preliminary investigation was submitted by the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) Vigilance team.
At the centre of the controversy is Unnikrishnan Potty, a former priest of Sabarimala, who offered the gold plating for the 'Dwarapalaka' (guarding) idols of Sabarimala temple's sanctum sanctorum.
Who Is Unnikrishnan Potty?
A resident of Pulimathu, rural Thiruvananthapuram, Unnikrishnan Potty served as an assistant at the Srirampura temple, but was expelled in 2004. He had also worked as an assistant to a junior priest at the Sabarimala Ayyappa temple. Since then, he has been under the scanner for acting as a mediator to facilitate the cash flow from rich businessmen towards the temple.
Currently, Potty is settled in Bengaluru and is involved in the money-lending business. According to Devaswom vigilance authorities, Potty is now allegedly involved in extorting money from rich Ayyappa devotees in the South in the name of collecting offerings for the Sabarimala temple. Earlier, during his time in Thiruvananthapuram, Unnikrishnan Potty was also involved in two criminal cases.
Besides financial dealings, Potty’s land holdings have also come under the scanner. According to official reports, quoted by The Week, he purchased and acquired large tracts of land using his business of moneylending.
Allegations have also surfaced against him for using his political weight to get favours at the Ayappa Temple.
How Did The Controversy Start?
The Sabarimala Temple gold controversy started after investigators struggled to find traces of 30.3 kg of gold and 1,900 kg of copper donated by industrialist Vijay Mallya in 1998. Both these donations were supposed to be used for cladding the sanctum sanctorum and wooden carvings of the Sabarimala Ayyappa temple in Kerala.
Devaswom Minister V N Vasavan, in response to ANI, said a detailed probe was underway under High Court supervision.
"The pedestal was recovered from the residence of Unnikrishnan Potty, who himself raised the complaint, which reveals who the culprit is. More facts will emerge as the investigation progresses," the Minister said.
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On Opposition charges of negligence by the state government and the Travancore Devaswom Board, the Minister said the allegations were aimed at diverting attention. "When the very item in question was found in the complainant's house, the facts became evident," Vasavan added, while confirming that Unnikrishnan Potty's influence was under scrutiny.
The probe team clarified there was no dispute over Mallya's donation but admitted that registers and supporting documents confirming the quantity of gold used were missing. Without these, the actual amount of gold plated or lost cannot be verified, raising suspicion of deliberate record tampering.
(With inputs from ANI)