SIT Questions Dindigul Jeweller In Sabarimala Missing Gold Case

Dindigul: The Kerala Police Special Investigation Team (SIT) is questioning a jeweller in Dindigul in connection with the gold theft case linked to the Sabarimala Ayyappa Temple.

The temple, located in Kerala’s Pathanamthitta district, sent the gold coverings of the Thuvara Balagars, the guardian deity statues flanking the sanctum sanctorum, for repairs to Chennai in 2019. When the Travancore Devaswom Board handed over the sheets, they weighed 42.8 kg. After repairs, the weight had dropped to 38 kg, revealing that 4.54 kg of gold was missing.

A bench of the Kerala High Court, comprising Justices Raja Vijayaraghavan and K.V. Jayakumar, ordered the formation of a special investigation team to probe the matter. That same year, the Devaswom Board suspended then-deputy commissioner Murari Babu for allegedly registering the gold-plated sheets as copper.

An FIR was later filed against nine officials and intermediaries, including Murari Babu, Devaswom Board secretary Jayashree, executive officer Satish, administrative officer Sreekumar, intermediary Unnikrishnan, and former Thiruvabharanam box commissioner Baiju.

The investigation took a turn with the arrest of former Devaswom Board administrative officer S. Sivakumar. Police say he had handed over 400 grams of gold to a merchant, Govardhan, from Ballari in Karnataka. Acting on this lead, the SIT arrested Govardhan and Smart Creation CEO Pankaj Bhandari and brought them to Thiruvananthapuram for questioning.

Based on their statements, investigators identified the involvement of Mani, also known as Balasubramanian, a gold melter and trader from Dindigul. On Wednesday morning, an SIT team led by DSP Suresh Babu reached Dindigul and, with local police assistance, began questioning Mani at his residence in Ram Nagar. The probe is ongoing.