India's Special Investigation Team has filed a significant report with the Kerala High Court that expands the scope of accusations in the high-profile Sabarimala gold theft case, naming former Travancore Devaswom Board president PS Prashanth, temple high priest Kandaru Rajeevaru, sponsor Unnikrishnan Potty, and five others as accused. The filing on June 29 marks a major development in the investigation into what authorities describe as a systematic conspiracy to defraud one of South India's most sacred temples of substantial quantities of precious metal over multiple years.
The investigation identifies late Executive Officer Murari Babu as the primary accused, with the case expanding significantly to include institutional figures. Beyond Prashanth and Rajeevaru, the accused list encompasses sponsor Unnikrishnan Potty, Chennai-based Smart Creations proprietor Pankaj Bhandari, TDB member A Ajikumar, and Thiruvabharanam Commissioner Rajilal. The breadth of the accused suggests authorities believe the alleged theft involved coordination across multiple levels of temple administration and external contractors, rather than isolated misconduct by individual officials.
The SIT's investigation has revealed a troubling pattern spanning multiple years. At the heart of the case are the Dwarapalaka guardian deity idols, which were originally encased in thick gold cladding applied in 1998. According to the investigation report, these sacred objects were transported to Chennai in 2019 under arrangements involving Unnikrishnan Potty, where authorities allege the original substantial gold covering was systematically stripped away and replaced with only a thin layer. The remaining precious metal—reportedly significant in quantity—vanished from the temple's inventory, allegedly misappropriated during this process.
To mask the fraud immediately after the 2019 incident, investigators found that the accused issued what they describe as a fraudulent forty-year quality warranty certificate. This document provided false assurance about the work performed, yet the deception unravelled quickly when the substandard replacement coating deteriorated within months, exposing the underlying copper metal beneath. This premature failure suggested to authorities that corners had been deliberately cut to maximize the gold available for theft, rather than ensuring proper restoration of sacred temple property.
The investigation reveals a sophisticated second phase of the alleged conspiracy. After PS Prashanth assumed the presidency of the Travancore Devaswom Board, Unnikrishnan Potty appears to have cultivated access and influence with him, subsequently proposing a fresh replating initiative for the same idols. This 2025 proposal, according to the SIT's findings, was not motivated by genuine restoration needs but rather designed to conceal the earlier 2019 theft. By moving the compromised idols to Chennai again, authorities suggest the accused intended to cover their tracks and obscure the original alleged crime through a second intervention.
The concealment strategy allegedly extended to deliberately falsifying official documentation. The SIT uncovered evidence that highly valuable gold-clad idols were deliberately described in transit permits as simple "copper plates," substantially understating their actual worth and religious significance. This mischaracterization served a dual purpose: it obscured the true value of the temple's sacred property and allowed the accused to bypass mandatory judicial oversight procedures that would typically govern the movement of such precious and religiously significant objects.
For Malaysian readers and observers across Southeast Asia, this case carries implications beyond the specific allegations. It illustrates vulnerabilities that can arise when religious institutions maintain substantial valuable assets with inadequate institutional oversight, and when administrative authority becomes concentrated without sufficient checks and balances. The involvement of both internal officials and external contractors suggests that mixed governance models, common across religious institutions throughout the region, require careful scrutiny to prevent exploitation.
The investigation also reveals how institutional conspiracies can persist over extended periods when documentation is falsified and when trust in senior leadership becomes a vulnerability rather than an asset. The alleged reliance on a manufactured warranty certificate and fraudulent permit descriptions demonstrates how temples and similar institutions can become targets precisely because their focus on spiritual matters sometimes creates gaps in financial and asset management oversight. This pattern has parallels in other Southeast Asian religious institutions that hold substantial valuables.
The Kerala High Court's decision to grant the SIT permission to register a fresh criminal case against Prashanth and others represents a judicial acknowledgment of the investigation's substantive findings. The court's directive that the SIT proceed according to law and file supplementary charge sheets if warranted suggests ongoing investigation remains active, with potential for additional accused to be named if evidence emerges.
The case demonstrates the importance of institutional transparency in managing religious assets, particularly when valuable historical artefacts are involved. For temple administrations across South Asia and Southeast Asia, the Sabarimala investigation serves as a cautionary example of how even established institutions with long histories can become vulnerable to systematic theft when administrative safeguards are inadequate and when external parties gain inappropriate influence over asset management decisions.
With the investigation into the Sreekovil doorframes already concluded and a charge sheet filed, the SIT's focus now remains on completing documentation related to the Dwarapalaka idols. The extension granted by the Kerala High Court suggests authorities anticipate additional evidence may emerge as the investigation concludes, potentially clarifying the full scope of the alleged conspiracy and the extent of assets misappropriated from this historically significant temple.
