How Sabarimala Gold Theft was Carried Out: What Probe Team Told The Court

The Special Investigation Team probing the alleged misappropriation of gold from the Sabarimala temple has provided a detailed account of how the crime was executed -- naming the accused and tracing the sequence of events from June 2019. Their statement, submitted before the Kerala High Court, has been accessed by NDTV.

The SIT -- formed following a High Court order dated October 6 - is investigating all aspects related to the gold plating of the Dwarapalakas (doorkeepers) of the Sabarimala temple's sanctum sanctorum. On October 11, two cases were filed by the Crime Branch to probe the gold pilfering.

The SIT claimed that the conspiracy started with an application dated June 17, 2019, submitted by Unnikrishnan Potty, who offered to carry out repairs and refurbish the gold-plating of the doorkeeper idols and the sanctum's door frames.

On July 3 that year, the Travancore Devaswom Board granted permission, and on July 17, S Sreekumar, the Administrative Officer of Sabarimala, approved the removal of the artifacts and 12 images of Dwarapalakas.

The SIT says though the artifacts were already gold-plated, the records falsely described them as ordinary copper metal plates. The total weight was recorded as 25.4 kg. On July 20, two door frames weighing 17.4 kg were handed over for fresh plating.

The SIT notes that the records were prepared without proper authorisation, some listed witnesses were not present, and signatures were obtained on behalf of Unnikrishnan Potti by others later identified as his associates.

The SIT states that the collection -- which included 14 artifacts - was taken to Chennai's Smart Creations, owned by Pankaj Bhandari, via Bengaluru and Hyderabad. In Chennai, the gold was extracted by workers including Balaji, under instructions from Unnikrishnan Potti.

The SIT says RG Radhakrishnan, then Thiruvabharanam Commissioner, the official designated to guard the valuables, visited Smart Creations on August 29 and 30, and weighed the artifacts before and after gold plating.

This is where the involvement of TDB officials started, the SIT claimed, pointing out that the significant reduction in weight due to gold stripping went unnoticed by the officials. 

The probe team said when the artifacts were taken back to Sabarimala on September 11, 2019, no proper audit procedures were followed either. The prime accused kept the artifacts for 53 days.
The SIT further alleges that Govardhan Roddam, a jeweller based in Karnataka's Bellary,   played a key role in the conspiracy along with Unnikrishnan Potty and Pankaj Bhandari, the proprietor of Smart Creations. According to investigators, Govardhan Roddam knew the plates were gold-clad and facilitated their movement from Hyderabad to Chennai.

How The Loot Was Shared

The SIT claims 989 gm of gold was recovered from the stripping process -- 409 gm from door frames, 577 gm from Dwarapalakas and other artifacts and 3 gm from residual solutions. 

Of this, 109.243 gm was allegedly taken by Pankaj Bhandari as labour charges. The rest was handed to Govardhan Roddam through an intermediary named Kalpesh, on October 12.

Govardhan Roddam was arrested on December 19, 2025, and is currently in judicial custody at Thiruvananthapuram's Central Prison. The SIT says forensic analysis is in progress to determine the exact quantity of gold that was originally on the artifacts.
Opposing the SIT, the defence counsel said the investigators were trying to frame his client Govardhan. Govardan's counsel Thomas Cherian argued that he is known for his charity and has donated over Rs 10 lakh and several key gold artifacts.