Pankaj Bhandari, the owner of Smart Creations, Chennai, who is the ninth accused in the Sabarimala gold theft case, has divulged to the Special Investigation Team (SIT) about the involvement of a man from Maharashtra in the unauthorised extraction of gold from door frames and idols of the Sabarimala temple. 

In his statement to the SIT dated October 9, 2025, a copy of which was attached along with the documents submitted by the probe team in the High Court, Bhandari said that in 2019, they had invited a specialist from Maharashtra experienced in gold recovery from stripped solutions. Bhandari has said that he would share his details with the investigation team. 

According to him, his firm specialised in temple-related works, and he has known Unnikrishnan Potty, the first accused in the case, since 2019. His statement shows that Potty had continuously approached him for gold-plating works related to Sabarimala. In 2019, the work for the sanctum sanctorum door was done by Smart creations and the donor was Govardhan Roddom, the jeweller from Bellary, who introduced him to Potty. 

Later, Potty told him that the sanctum sanctorum door appeared more brightly gold-plated than the side frame, while the top Lord Shiva plate was dull and dirty. This led to the transport of seven pieces of the Shiva plate and side frames to Chennai. 

According to Bhandari, his team noticed that the seven pieces were not of new copper but had a gold colour, indicating that they were old copper. Bhandari told Potty that gold plating could not be done over existing gold-cladded sheets.

Potty, according to Bhandari's statement, insisted that he had full authority from the officials concerned to proceed immediately with the work. The firm was directed to remove the gold from the seven plates and strip the gold from the sheets. A stripping solution was used, which dissolves the gold. Bhandari admitted that his firm did not specialise in gold recovery from solutions, and a third-party specialist was called in for such work, since otherwise it led to quality issues and confusion. 

Govardhan, the 10th accused in the case, had provided 186.587 gms of gold for gold plating. Bhandari's team deposited 184 grams and delivered the seven pieces in June 2019. He then informed Potty that gold had been issued for the frame and Shiva plate and that any additional gold recovery would be assessed once the specialist extracted gold from the stripping solution. 

Bhandari then received 14 pieces of idols, and when they cleaned them using a soap solution, traces of gold were observed on the copper sheets. Though Potty was told that these were old gold-plated sheets and could not be replated directly, Potty was insistent that the repair and stripping work be completed immediately. 

Potty also instructed Bhandari not to take additional gold since they already had the old stripping solution and leftover gold from the Dwarapalaka idols. 

After the cleaning works, Bhandari told Potty that he would report the total gold balance after recovery. All 14 items were delivered back in September 2019. The gold recovery specialist from Maharashtra extracted 409 gms of gold from the side frame and 577 gms from the idols. Potty directed them to deduct 393.9 gms for Dwarapalaka idol plating and 9.9 gms for other Sabarimala items. After using 404.8 gms for gold plating, 584.2 gms were handed over to Unnikrishnan Potty. 

SIT has submitted in the court that Govardhan, along with Pankaj Bhandari, Unnikrishnan Potty and other accused persons hatched ca riminal conspiracy to misappropriate the gold cladded on the copper plates depicting the Dasavatharas, zodiac symbols, top portion of the door frames and Prabhamandalam over the door frames ( 7 plates) installed in and around the sanctum sanctorum of the Sabarimala temple