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THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A day after his arrest, the special investigation team (SIT) investigating the Sabarimala gold theft case seized documents and collected evidence from the ancestral home of Unnikrishnan Potti, the first accused, in Karette on Saturday. The SIT also questioned Potti's family members about his financial transactions between 2017 and September 2025, including expenses related to gold, land, house construction, medical treatment, foreign and leisure trips, and bank deposits. Meanwhile, the team also continued its interrogation of Potti. Speaking to mediapersons while being taken for a medical examination, Potti said those who had him framed would soon be exposed.
Kochi: The Kerala High Court on Friday pulled up the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) for removing the gold-plated copper coverings from the Dwarapalaka idols at Sabarimala without informing the Special Commissioner. A Division Bench comprising Justice Raja Vijayaraghavan V and Justice K V Jayakumar, while considering the Sabarimala Special Commissioner's report, expressed concern over repair works being carried out in Chennai in violation of procedures and court oversight. Installed in 2019 with a 40-year guarantee, the gold-plated coverings developed defects within six years. Sponsored by d ...Read More >
Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala) [India], October 10 (ANI): In a scathing attack on the Kerala government amid the escalating Sabarimala gold plating controversy, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader V Muraleedharan on Friday accused the state administration of betraying the trust of devotees and demanded the immediate dismissal of the Devaswom Minister along with the dissolution of the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB). Muraleedharan said that the Kerala High Court's intervention in the matter was a "clear indictment" of the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government led by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijay ...Read More >
Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala) [India], October 22 (ANI): Kerala BJP chief Rajeev Chandrasekhar on Tuesday demanded the resignation of Devaswom Minister VN Vasavan and the dissolution of Travancore Devaswom Board over the Sabarimala gold "theft" issue. He also accused Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan of trying to "brush the issue under the carpet." "Our position as the BJP has been a sharp contrast with the attempts of the CM to try and brush this under the carpet. When 4.5 kgs of gold from a sacred shrine like Sabarimala go missing, we consider it a crime...So, we have maintained from day 1 that ...Read More >
The outcome of the local self-govt elections was not as expected for the LDF and the reasons for this will be examined in detail. Necessary corrections will be made moving forward, said chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan.Although a significant victory was anticipated across the state, such progress was not achieved, he said in a statement. "The fact that the NDA gained an advantage in the capital city and the influence of communalism in the election campaign are concerning to those who believe in se ...Read More >
Thiruvananthapuram: Senior Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala on Sunday said he shared all the information available with him regarding the Sabarimala gold scam with the special investigation team (SIT) probing the case.Speaking to the media after giving his statement to the SIT, Chennithala said he informed the probe team about the possible links between the theft and international antique smuggling networks. He clarified that the details he provided were information he received in his capacity ...Read More >
Hyderabad: The city police have achieved a swift breakthrough in the investigation into the gruesome murder of a 50-year-old woman at her residence in Kukatpally, with the arrest of the prime suspect in Jharkhand's Ranchi. The accused, a 21-year-old named Harsha, had been employed in the household for less than a fortnight before the crime was carried out. Detectives moved quickly after the murder came to light, deploying five special teams to gather evidence, trace phone activity, and study hours of CCTV footage. One of the teams eventually tracked Harsha to his hometown of Ranchi, where he ...Read More >
Bengaluru/T'puram: The special investigation team (SIT) probing the alleged gold theft at Sabarimala Ayyappa temple, raided a house at Nagappa Block, Srirampura, in northern Bengaluru on Saturday and recovered materials and documents in connection with the case.A senior officer from Bengaluru said a Kerala police inspector and sub-inspector led the search. A source said the house belongs to Unnikrishnan Potti, the prime accused in the case. Meanwhile, the SIT has recovered the gold Potti handed over to the gold trader Govardhan of Ballari. The SIT led by SP Sasidharan recovered the gold from t ...Read More >
Pathanamthitta (Kerala) [India], November 20 (ANI): The Special Investigation Team on Thursday arrested former Travancore Devaswom Board president A Padmakumar in the Sabarimala gold theft case, officials said. He was the Devaswom Board president in 2019, when the gold theft took place. The arrest came after the SIT questioned him for several hours at the State Police Headquarters since this morning. Also Read | 5G Network Expansion: India Set To Cross 1 Million 5G Subscription by End of 2031, Reflecting Rapid Growth in Adoption in Just 3 Years of Service Rollout, Says Report. On November 1 ...Read More >
Jabalpur (Madhya Pradesh): Jabalpur police have cracked the case of the recent robbery of 14 kgs of gold and ₹5 lakh in cash at ESAF Finance Company in Khitola, as reported on Thursday. According to information, the mastermind behind the crime was Raees Singh, who had recently been released from an Odisha jail. He allegedly planned the heist inside the jail itself. He teamed up with notorious criminals from Bihar to execute the plan. With the help of his associate, Sonu Barman, he rented a room in Indrana village, posing as a loan recovery agent to blend in. He closely observed the bank's mo ...Read More >
KOCHI: Hardening its stance against the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) for sending gold-plated sheets of 'dwarapalaka idols' of the Sabarimala temple to Chennai for repair without following proper procedure, the Kerala High Court on Friday directed the TDB's chief vigilance and security officer (SP) to seize all the records related to the gold plating of the idols and other items since the date of original cladding. It also impleaded Unnikrishnan Potty of Bengaluru, who is sponsoring the repair, and Smart Creations of Chennai, which is undertaking it, in the case and asked the registry to is ...Read More >
A plea has reached the Supreme Court accusing Gujarat Police of sexually assaulting and torturing a 17-year-old boy. The plea seeks the formation of a SIT excluding Gujarat police officers for a court-monitored CBI probe. Also, it requests an FIR under various laws, alleging illegal custody and denial of juvenile rights. The Supreme Court is set to examine a disturbing plea alleging the sexual assault and custodial torture of a 17-year-old boy by Gujarat Police. The case is scheduled to be heard ...Read More >
Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala) [India], October 6 (ANI): The General Secretary of Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana (SNDP) Yogam, Vellappally Natesan has heavily criticised Kerala's temple administration system, questioning whether "Devaswom Boards have become a curse." Criticising the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) for sending gold-plated panels from the temple's Dwarapalaka idols to Chennai for repair without informing the High Court, Natesan wrote in 'Yoganadam', the official mouthpiece of the SNDP Yogam, that such an incident is "deeply painful for Ayyappa devotees" and highlighted that the a ...Read More >
Thiruvananthapuram: Judicial first class magistrate court in Ranni on Friday remanded Unnikrishnan Potti, the key accused in the Sabarimala gold theft case, to the custody of the special investigation team (SIT) until Oct 30.Potti, who was taken into custody on Thursday from his residence at Pulimath, was subjected to several hours of interrogation at the crime branch headquarters in Eanchakkal before being formally arrested early Friday morning -- marking the first arrest in the case. He was later produced before the Ranni court, which allowed him 10 minutes to interact with his lawyer. Inves ...Read More >
Chennai (Tamil Nadu) [India], October 26 (ANI): The Special Investigation Team (SIT), appointed by the Kerala High Court has questioned Pankaj Bhandari, CEO of Smart Creation in Chennai, over the alleged disappearance of gold linked to the Sabarimala temple's restoration work. The company had undertaken the electroplating of gold-clad copper coverings for the Dwarapalaka (guardian deity) idols at the Sabarimala Ayyappan Temple. The SIT brought the accused, Unnikrishnan Potti, to Chennai after raiding his residence in Bengaluru. Potti, the prime accused in the Sabarimala gold theft case, was ...Read More >
The Kerala Special Investigation Team (SIT) on Saturday conducted a raid at the Bengaluru residence of Potti Unnikrishnan as part of the ongoing probe. Unnikrishnan, the prime accused in the Sabarimala gold theft case, was taken to Bengaluru on Friday for evidence collection, has been remanded to police custody until October 30. The SIT is examining his involvement in the 2019 theft of the gold-plated panels from the Sabarimala temple's Dwarapalaka (guardian deity) panels. Meanwhile, on Thursda ...Read More >
The SIT probing the Sabarimala gold theft has requested permission from the Thantri to conduct a scientific inspection at the Sannidhanam. The SIT aims to examine the gold-plated sheets on the Dwarapalaka sculptures and door frames. Pathanamthitta: The Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the Sabarimala gold theft case has requested permission from the Thantri to carry out a scientific inspection at the Sannidhanam. The formal request was submitted to Thantri Mahesh Mohanaru through the Deva ...Read More >
New Delhi: In the past year, gold has delivered massive gains to Indian investors. On 11 September 2024, the price of 24-karat physical gold stood at around Rs 73,200 per 10 grams. One year later, it has surged to Rs 1,12,500 per 10 grams -- a jump of nearly 54 percent. Gold ETFs have mirrored this rally too. Over the last 12 months, these exchange-traded funds have offered average returns of up to 50 percent. August 2025 alone saw a net inflow of Rs 2,189.5 crore into gold ETFs -- the fourth consecutive month of inflows. According to AMFI, their assets under management (AUM) hit a record Rs ...Read More >
Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala) [India], October 10 (ANI): In a scathing attack on the Kerala government amid the escalating Sabarimala gold plating controversy, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader V Muraleedharan on Friday accused the state administration of betraying the trust of devotees and demanded the immediate dismissal of the Devaswom Minister along with the dissolution of the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB). Muraleedharan said that the Kerala High Court's intervention in the matter was a "clear indictment" of the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government led by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijay ...Read More >
KOCHI: Even as gold prices surge to record highs, Kerala's temples continue to glitter with the devotion of followers. Offerings of gold and silver pour in undeterred. At the famed Guruvayur Sree Krishna Temple, devotees drop precious metals into the hundi (offering box) in astonishing quantities -- around 20 to 25 kg of gold and 120 to 150 kg of silver every year. The October 2025 collection alone yielded 2.58 kg of gold and 9.31 kg of silver. The Sabarimala hill shrine, which opens only for three months during the pilgrimage season, receives nearly 15 kg of gold during that short period. A ...Read More >
The Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the loss of gold from Sabarimala temple conducted searches at the prime accused Unnikrishnan Potty's Bengaluru apartment and a jewellery shop in Ballari. Gold bars were seized from the shop, owned by Govardhan, who reportedly funded the temple's Sreekovil door frame gold-plating work sponsored by Potty. The Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the loss of gold from the Sabarimala temple conducted searches at the apartment of prime accused Unnikris ...Read More >
Thiruvananthapuram, Oct 1 (PTI) The opposition Congress and the BJP on Wednesday questioned why the gold-plated cladding of the 'Dwarapalakas' was removed in 2019 for renovation, why its weight was reduced when it was brought back to the shrine, and demanded a comprehensive probe into the matter. Both the BJP and Congress alleged that these actions took place with the knowledge of the government and the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB). Leader of the Opposition in the state assembly, V D Satheesan, questioned why the cladding -- which had a 40-year guarantee after being gold-plated in 1990 -- ...Read More >
Unnikrishnan Potty, who allegedly sponsored gold plating of temple items in 2019, has been arrested from his Thiruvananthapuram residence. This comes after Kerala HC found that the items that Potty allegedly took for gold plating in 2019 had been missing gold. A Special Investigation Team probing alleged misappropriation of gold from the Sabarimala temple Thursday took Unnikrishnan Potty, who had sponsored gold-plating of temple items, into custody. Following directions from the Kerala High Cou ...Read More >
Pathanamthitta (Kerala), Oct 17 (PTI) A local court in Ranni here on Friday granted custody of Unnikrishnan Potty, the prime accused in the Sabarimala gold missing case, to the SIT probing the matter. The Judicial First Class Magistrate Court granted the custody of Potty to the Special Investigation Team (SIT) till October 30. The accused claimed he had been 'trapped' by somone. "Those who trapped me will come before the law," he told reporters while being taken out of the court. A person in the crowd gathered outside the court hurled a footwear at Potty as he was being escorted out of the ...Read More >
Kochi, Sep 12 ( IANS) The Kerala High Court on Friday came down heavily on the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) for removing gold-plated copper coverings from the Dwarapalaka (guardian) idols at Sabarimala without informing the court-appointed Special Commissioner. A Division Bench of Justice Raja Vijayaraghavan V and Justice K.V. Jayakumar, while hearing the Special Commissioner's report, expressed concern that the TDB bypassed procedure and court oversight by sending the ornaments for repairs to a Chennai-based firm, Smart Creations. The gold-plated coverings, guaranteed for 40 years when i ...Read More >
Thiruvananthapuram [Kerala], October 2 (ANI): The Sabrimala gold-plating controversy has intensified, with investigators struggling to trace key records linked to the 30.3 kg of gold and 1,900 kg of copper donated by industrialist Vijay Mallya in 1998 for cladding the sanctum sanctorum and wooden carvings of the Sabarimala Ayyappa temple in Kerala. Also Read | Mohan Bhagwat Says 'Pahalgam Attack Revealed India's True Friends' During Public Address on RSS 100th Anniversary (Watch Video). Devaswom Minister V N Vasavan, in response to ANI, said a detailed probe was underway under High Court sup ...Read More >
Kozhikode: The Kozhikode rural police on Wednesday arrested two men in separate temple theft cases involving stolen cash and gold. In the first incident, Koyilandy police arrested Valiyeduthu Meethal Aneesh (42) for breaking open donation boxes (hundi) at the Veliyannur Theru Ganapathi Temple in Nambrathukara near Koyilandy. According to police, Aneesh broke five hundis in the temple and stole offerings collected since the Navaratri festival. The theft took place in the early hours of Wednesday. A native of Nambrathukara, Aneesh is reportedly a habitual offender with a history of similar cri ...Read More >
Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala) [India], October 17 (ANI): In a major development, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) appointed by the Kerala High Court has arrested Unnikrishnan Potti, the prime accused in the Sabarimala gold theft case, on Friday. The arrest was officially recorded at 2:30 a.m. on Friday. Also Read | Kolkata Fatafat Result Today, October 17, 2025: Kolkata FF Live Winning Numbers Released, Know When and Where To Check Result Chart of Satta Matka-Type Lottery Game. Unnikrishnan Potti's arrest pertains to the theft of gold plating from the sanctum's wooden panels and the Dwara ...Read More >
Sabarimala temple's former administrative officer B Murari Babu has been taken into custody by the Special Investigation Team probing missing gold. Babu, suspended by the Travancore Devaswom Board, is accused in cases involving the disappearance of gold from temple idols and door frames. He allegedly forwarded proposals for electroplating, claiming the gold-clad plates were copper. The Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the missing gold from the Sabarimala temple has taken former administr ...Read More >
Kerala audit flags lapses in Guruvayur Devaswom Board records; BJP seeks CAG probe amid Sabarimala gold theft case. The 2019-2020 Kerala Audit report has highlighted multiple procedural lapses in the maintenance of records by the Guruvayur Devaswom Board. When auditors examined the board's income and expenditure for 2019-20, they found discrepancies, suggesting unscientific budgeting practices. The audit observations come amid ongoing allegations of missing gold from the Sabarimala Temple. The ...Read More >
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Crime Branch Special Investigation Team (SIT) arrested former Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) President A. Padmakumar on Thursday, in connection with the Sabarimala gold theft case. Padmakumar, a senior CPM leader and former MLA, was grilled by the SIT at the Crime Branch headquarters here before his arrest. The former TDB president is suspected of being involved in the case. According to the probe team, the gold used for plating the Sanctum Sanctorum (Sreekovil) door frames was allegedly recorded as copper under instructions from former Devaswom Commissioner N Vasu. ...Read More >