The Kerala High Court-appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the “misappropriation” of gold-plated copper moulds encasing the stone carvings and sculptures at the Sabarimala Ayyappa Temple inspected a jewellery shop in Bengaluru, Karnataka, on Saturday (October 25, 2025).
Officials privy to the probe said the SIT has been in the city since Thursday (October 23, 2025) to verify the antecedents of the prime accused in the case, Unnikrishnan Potti.
Mr. Potti, who is in SIT’s custody, is reportedly with the team. Officials said the SIT inspected Mr. Potti’s apartment in the city and also interviewed the jewellery shop owner with whom he had financial transactions.
The SIT reportedly seized documents from the businessperson, who allegedly claimed to have donated gold through Mr. Potti to supposedly create a gilded cover for the sanctum sanctorum’s original wooden door.
The SIT’s case against Mr. Potti was that he convinced the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) authorities in 2019 that he would restore the fraying gilded encasings for free at a metal works factory in Chennai.
