Thiruvananthapuram: Unnikrishnan Potty was arrested by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) in connection with the theft of gold from the Sabarimala temple in Kerala. The arrest followed a lengthy interrogation after he was taken into custody from his residence in Pulimath in Trivandrum
Potty is accused of stealing 474.9 grams of gold during repair work on the golden panels of the temple’s sanctum doors and the Dwajapalaka (door guardian) sculptures in 2019.
Potty had agreed to sponsor and oversee the restoration work. Investigators allege that he exploited this position to misappropriate the gold.
As per police sources the SIT has obtained crucial information and evidence related to the theft. Potti will be produced before the Ranni court in Pathanamthitta today. SIT is expected to seek his custody in the court today.
The arrest marks a major breakthrough in the case with the SIT team making the first arrest in the case.
The case thus enters a crucial phase with more Devaswom officials expected to be questioned from here on. The police team has also intensified the efforts to find the gold material that was missing.
“We are of the view that the gold that was stolen was being shared among few people including a person named Kalpesh. We will be questioning more people in the next 3 days to get more details on how and where the gold went missing”, said a senior official in the SIT team.
SIT also understand that he has collected money from various sources including a private money lending firm based in Thiruvananthapuram.