THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The special investigation team that arrested former Tranvacore Devaswom Board president P S Prasanth in connection with the theft of gold from the Sabarimala dwarapalaka idols has stated that he was directly involved in the case.
The documents, including the remand report, the SIT filed before the court said Prasanth acted in connivance with prime accused Unnikrishnan Potti to move the gilted copper sheets to Smart Creations in Chennai.
This was done by bypassing established law that prohibited the undertaking of maintenance work of temple artefacts outside the shrine. The report said Prasanth and board members A Ajikumar, who too was arrested, and G Sundareshan willfully agreed to move the artefacts to Chennai and issued an order in this regard in October 2024. However, due to the pilgrimage season, the artefacts could not be taken away that year, the report said.
The SIT also informed the court that the accused were aware of the fact that Smart Creations lacked expertise to extract gold from the plates and then re-electroplate the sheets using the same gold. Still, they decided to move ahead, the report said.
The SIT also told the court that the accused wanted to cover up the exact quantity of gold lost in 2019, the quality of the yellow metal used, and the exact quantity of gold used for electroplating.
Though an agreement was to be signed with the Chennai firm before taking away the artefacts, it was found that the agreement was signed much later with a backdate. The stamp paper used for fabricating the document was purchased by Potti from Ballari in Karnataka in his name, the report said.
Prasanth and Ajikumar were arrested on Thursday.
Meanwhile, the CPM leadership has taken a cautious approach as state secretary M V Govindan said the party will examine the issue and take an appropriate decision.
Prasanth and Ajikumar were arraigned as accused in the case. Prasanth had rejected the charges levelled by the SIT, saying the allegations were politically motivated and part of a conspiracy.
He said he had met Unnikrishnan Potti, the main accused, only once and had never met Govardhan or Pankaj Bhandari, the other accused in the case. Prasanth had unsuccessfully contested the 2021 assembly elections as a Congress candidate before switching over to the CPM. He was appointed the TDB president in 2023.
