Sabarimala gold theft case: Prime accused Unnikrishnan Potti arrested

In a major breakthrough, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) appointed by the Kerala High Court has arrested Unnikrishnan Potti, the prime accused in the Sabarimala gold theft case.The arrest was officially recorded at 2:30 a.m. on Friday. Unnikrishnan Potti's arrest pertains to the theft of gold plating from the sanctum's wooden panels and the Dwarapalaka (door guardian) sculptures at Sabarimala temple. The action comes on the fifth day of the court-monitored SIT probe. He underwent a medical examination at Thiruvananthapuram General Hospital late Thursday night and will be produced before the Ranni court this afternoon. The SIT is also expected to seek his custody for further interrogation.
Earlier, the Travancore Devaswam Board (TDB) president PS Prasanth suspended assistant engineer K Sunil Kumar for his alleged involvement in the Sabarimala gold theft case.Kumar has been named as an accused in the case.
Prasanth said Retired officers involved in the gold-plating controversy will receive a show-cause notice, with a 10-day time frame to respond. "In today's Board meeting, it was decided to suspend Assistant Engineer K Sunil Kumar, who is under investigation. Retired officers involved will receive show-cause notices and must respond within 10 days. Further action will be taken as per the rules after receiving their explanations," Prasanth told reporters.
Referring to the 2019 incident, Prasanth said that the Kerala government, along with the Devaswom Board, has a clear stance that lost property must be recovered and culprits must be punished. He further stated that "protest against the Devaswom Board  and attacks on employees" was regrettable since the Board was moving while upholding all rituals and traditions.
As per Manorama report, Potty was arrested in two cases - for colluding with the Devaswom board officials and siphoning off gold panels of the Dwarapalaka idols and for detaching the door panels of the sanctum sanctorum plated with gold by misrepresenting it as copper plates with the recommendation of the board staff concerned. The SIT's first arrest in the case aligns with the findings of the Devaswom Vigilance which has already submitted a probe report. The Devaswom Vigilance has found out that in August 2019, 14 pieces of gold-clad Dwarapalaka copper plates were handed over to Smart Creations by Potty. He directed them to utilise the gold earlier extracted as well as any leftover gold from the Dwarapalakas.