The Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT) sought the expertise of the Vikram Sarabhai Space Center (VSSC) to quantify the amount of gold in gilded copper alloy molds donated by industrialist Vijay Mallya in 1998 to encase the stone statues, doors and sculptures of the Sabarimala Ayyappa temple that line the sanctum.
The forthcoming metallurgical analysis report of the VSSC may provide the SIT with a scientific basis to compare the metallurgical nature of the original gilded panels with those returned to the temple after restoration by prime accused Unnikrishnan Potti in 2019. The SIT has received permission from the High Court to remove some of the original panels from the temple for testing at the VSSC.
Officials said the investigation reached a crucial point after Pankaj Bhandari, owner of Smart Creations in Ambattur, Chennai, was arrested last Friday. Mr. Potti commissioned a metallurgical firm to restore the “frayed” gilded panels to their original golden luster in 2019.
The SIT has accused Mr. Bhandari of extracting gold from the original 24 carat gold infused copper case using a chemical process. The SIT alleged that Mr. Bhandari had appropriated 400 g of residual gold from the chemical “division process” as his share of the “loot”. She accused Mr Potti of selling the remaining gold precipitate, estimated at 102g, to Govardhan, owner of Roddam Jewelery in Bellary, Karnataka.
Officials said the SIT has recovered some of the “loot”. They stressed that further investigations are underway to find out how the suspects monetized the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) property and who else benefited from the crime.
The SIT also found that the accused had extracted gold content from the molds covering the Dwarapalaka sculptures, the ‘dasha avatar’ and zodiac carvings, the gilded panels surrounding the door to the sanctum sanctorum and the ‘Prabha Mandalam’ that adorns the entrance.
Officials said the SIT found that the gold-plated temple artefacts, which have incalculable religious value for Ayyappa devotees, were tampered with to extract the embedded gold. He also found a discrepancy in the weight of the panels returned to the temple after the 2019 renovation with the original 1998 forms.
The SIT’s primary case was that the accused had conspired with TDB officials to gain illegal financial benefit by “misappropriating” gold-plated panels and manipulating them for gold, thereby causing loss to the exchequer.
The SIT accused serving and former TDB officials of aiding the fraud by falsely certifying that the gilded artefacts were made of pure copper before entrusting the panels to Mr Potti, a private individual, for restoration.
The SIT has so far obtained judicial custody and subsequent police custody (for questioning) of former TDB presidents N. Vasu and A. Padmakumar, both Communist Party of India (Marxist) candidates, and temple officials KS Baiju, D. Sudheesh Kumar and Murari Babu.
Published – 21 Dec 2025 20:08 IST
