SIT questions former Devaswom Minister Kadakampally Surendran and former TDB president P. Prasanth in the Sabarimala gold theft case

The Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the criminal misappropriation of the Sabarimala Ayyappa Temple’s gold-plated religious artefacts has questioned Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] State Committee member and former Devaswom Board Minister, Kadakampally Surendran.

Officials said the SIT recorded Mr. Surendran’s statement at a Kerala Police Crime Branch “safe house” in Thiruvananthapuram on an unspecified date last week. They said the SIT had also questioned former Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) president P Prasanth.

Mr. Surendran was the Devaswom Minister when the crime unfolded in 2019. Officials said the SIT reportedly sought to determine whether Mr. Surendran, as Minister, had any direct or indirect role in allowing the prime suspect, Unnikrishnan Potti, to take possession of the gilded coverings encasing the temple’s stone sculptures and carvings under the pretext of restoring them to their original golden sheen through a chemical process at Smart Creations, a gold plating factory at Ambattur in Chennai.

According to officials, Mr. Surendran reportedly told the SIT that the government’s role in TDB administration was limited to policy and sweeping administrative oversight, primarily through the Revenue department’s Devaswom wing.

According to sources, Mr. Surendran reportedly underscored that the TDB was an autonomous body with statutory powers and, as such, its everyday administrative functions were, by default, independent of the government. Hence, the government had no role in TDB’s decision to contract Mr. Potti to refurbish the gilded panels donated to the temple by industrialist Vijay Mallya in 1998.

Officials said the SIT questioned Mr. Prasanth about the TDB’s decision to entrust the gilded panels to Mr. Potti again in 2025, in violation of the temple manual and despite red flags raised by the Board’s vigilance wing.

They said Mr. Prasanth stated that Smart Creations had, in 2019, given a ten-year warranty for the “restored” gold-plated coverings.

He reportedly told the SIT that Smart Creations had, in hindsight, “suspiciously” named Mr. Potti as the warrantee, thereby constraining the TDB to seek his services for a second time in six years.

Mr. Prasanth said that, unlike in 2019, the TDB sent the artefacts to Smart Creations in a secure government vehicle escorted by mobile armed police units. He reportedly conceded that the TDB had failed to seek the High Court’s prior permission to move the objects from the temple to Chennai for repair and subsequently submitted an apology.