The Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the Sabarimala gold scam on Tuesday submitted a preliminary report to the Kerala High Court. The report includes statements made by the prime accused, Unnikrishnan Potty, against members and officials of the Travancore Devaswom Board.

The SIT, led by SP S Sasidharan, questioned Ananthasubrahmanyam, a close friend of Potty, at the Crime Branch headquarters on Monday. Ananthasubrahmanyam was later let off at night.

According to the remand report filed by the SIT at the Judicial First Class Magistrate Court-I, Ranni, Potty manipulated mahzar records to show gold-clad panels as copper and had them handed over to others in 2019 while he was absent. The documents bore the signature of his friend Ananthasubrahmanyam and R Ramesh.

Potty had earlier served as an assistant priest at Sabarimala between 2004 and 2008. He misappropriated gold under the guise of cladding the copper panels of the Dwarapalaka idols, despite knowing that the work had already been completed in 1998. The report notes that Potty procured about two kilograms of gold through “illicit means, breach of trust and cheating” for monetary gain.

The investigation has also brought the Devaswom Board officials under the scanner. The probe found that the officials who signed off on the mahazar to transport the panels to Chennai for gold-plating in 2019 were aware that the idols had been gold-plated earlier.

Potty was taken into custody on Thursday from his residence in Pulimath after the SIT received information that he was planning to abscond. His phone was found switched off when officials tried to contact him. A team led by Crime Branch Wayanad DySP S S Suresh Babu apprehended him at noon and took him to the Crime Branch Central Unit-IV office in Eanchakkal for interrogation. His statement was recorded late at night, and his arrest was formally registered at 2.40 am.

Meanwhile, 14 gold-clad plates have been reinstalled on the Dwarapalaka idols at the Sabarimala Ayyappa temple. The work, led by sculptor Mannar Ananthan Achari and his son Anu Anandan, was completed when the temple reopened for the monthly puja on Friday.