Sabarimala gold scam: Potty's sacred games involved random men, didn't leave fingerprints

Unnikrishnan Potty, the key conspirator in the Sabarimala gold scam, had such unquestioned sway over the temple affairs that he not only had gold-clad panels marked as copper in official records but even made Devaswom officials hand over protected artefacts to random people in 2019. The probe report of the Devaswom Vigilance reveals that while the mahzar showed officials handing over panels to Potty, the truth was that he was not even present at Sabarimala. 

The gold-clad panels marked as 'copper plates' were handed over to one Ananthasubrahmaniam on July 19, 2019, and another set of panels was handed over to a Kannada native named R Ramesh on the next day. Potty didn't even turn up on these days. Mahzar records showing the handover of Sabarimala's treasured items would record the signatures of Ramesh and Ananthasubrahmaniam against the name of Unnikrishnan Potty. It is suspected that Potty had woven a large network of contacts, mostly affluent devotees, whom he convinced to be a part of his shady deals. 

Before two strangers walked away with the valuable items of Sabarimala, Potty had initiated a flawless administrative process through which communications at each level, minutes, proceedings, final order and mahzar were orchestrated. 

Once the panels were transported from Sabarimala, Potty toured around cities, identifying devotees who organised pious gatherings to welcome and pay obeisance to the venerable items from Sabarimala. The Devaswom Vigilance team, led by SP V Sunilkumar, rebuilt the trail of panels ferried from Sabarimala in 2019.

Ananthasubrahmaniam took the panels to Bengaluru, and as per the direction of Potty, he transported them to a shop run by a man named Nagesh in Hyderabad. Nagesh then took it to Smart Creations, Chennai. The probe team could not find a single document, either with Potty or with Smart Creations, to verify that the items were actually brought to Smart Creations. 

Potty conducted a procession of sorts with the panels even after the gold-cladding process. A ritual was held at Smart Creations in which actor Jayaram and others were invited. Then it was taken to Jayaram's house, from where it was transported to Bengaluru, where he stored the panels in his friend Ajikumar's house. 

A businessman named Vinod Jain then received the panel to hold a ritual, and the panels were transported via car from Bengaluru to Vazhakulam, Ajikumar's native place. An elaborate function was held here at the sacred grove in the presence of a large number of people. In a way, Potty, who could manipulate officials to falsify records, roamed around, attending religious gatherings with Sabarimala artefacts for 49 days before it was reinstalled. 

Potty wasn't done. In 2020, he again submitted an application to make a pedestal seat for the idol since copper was visible. A man named Sankar reached Sabarimala, made a mould of the pedestal and was taken to Smart Creations. It was plated with gold, and in 2021, the pedestal was brought to Sabarimala. After the temple was closed at night, the pedestal set was placed for fitting, but they had erred in the dimensions. As per Potty's direction, this pedestal was kept in his aide Vasudevan's house. 

The pedestal was wrapped in a sack and brought to Pampa in a tractor. The pedestal set then adorned the drawing room of Vasudevan until recently, when the High Court intervened and news reports began to emerge. A panicked Vasudevan took the pedestal to Potty's house at Pulimath. Though Potty refused to accept this, he made Vasudevan keep it above the almarah. While doing so, Potty ensured that his fingerprints did not show on the item. He then shifted the pedestal to his sister's house, from where the vigilance recovered it. It was Vasudevan who told the probe team about the pedestal, and Potty told the cops that it was shifted to his sister's house. 

The SIT named former Devaswom officials and members of the board in 2019 as the accused in the case based on Devaswom Vigilance's findings. The probe report makes damning statements against former executive officer D Sudhish Kumar and former administrative officer Murari Babu. It said that both these officials recommended handing over panels to Potty and marked it as copper plates in all the official records in 2019, despite the fact that they were fully aware of the gold-plating done by UB group in 1998-99, as they had entered service in the Travancore Devaswom board before 1998 and had served at Sabarimala.