Sabarimala gold theft: SIT to file final report within 30 days

The Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the Sabarimala gold theft case informed the Kerala High Court on Monday that the final report in one of the two cases will be filed within 30 days. The report will be submitted in the case relating to the alleged pilfering of gold from the Dwarapalakas placed on either side of the Sreekovil at the Sabarimala temple.

The SIT also informed the court that the final report in the second case would be filed without further delay, while seeking additional time to complete certain confidential aspects of the investigation.

A Division Bench of Justice Raja Vijayaraghavan V and Justice K V Jayakumar recorded the submissions after perusing a status report filed by Additional Director General of Police (Crimes) H Venkitesh and interacting with SIT head Sasidharan, Superintendent of Police and Assistant Director of the Kerala Police Academy (KEPA).

The court was informed that the investigation in the first case has been substantially completed and that the final report can be filed within 30 days. The SIT added that further legal proceedings would be initiated after obtaining the required prosecution sanction from the competent authority.

The Bench noted that the delay in completing the probe was due to the time taken for specialised scientific examination of the samples at the CSIR-National Metallurgical Laboratory (NML), Jamshedpur. The final scientific report from the laboratory was received on July 6, 2026.

The court had earlier permitted the SIT to send the samples to NML after noting that advanced examinations, including X-ray Fluorescence Spectroscopy (XRF), Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS), and Optical Emission Spectroscopy (OES), required for analysing elemental composition, impurities, alloy composition and metallurgical characteristics, were available only at the institute.

According to the SIT report, the tests helped investigators determine how the gold was allegedly removed from the copper plates, the quantity of gold allegedly pilfered, and the composition and characteristics of the plates. The stripping salt seized from Smart Creations, the Chennai-based firm, entrusted by the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) to do gold-plating work on Dwarapalakas, was also examined to ascertain whether it could be used to remove the gold cladding in the manner alleged by the prosecution.

The SIT submitted that the laboratory's findings provided a scientific explanation of the alleged process adopted by the accused, including details regarding the composition of the copper plates, the quantity and quality of gold originally used for cladding, and the amount of gold allegedly used for nano-gold plating at Smart Creations.

The investigating team also informed the court that its officers visited NML between July 9 and July 11 and interacted with the scientists who conducted the examinations. Statements of the scientific officers were recorded as part of the investigation to support the evidentiary value of the findings.

Regarding the second, relating to alleged gold pilferage transactions during September 2025, the SIT said the investigation was progressing and that the scientific findings had provided further insights into the alleged modus operandi. It informed the court that 54 witnesses had so far been examined in connection with the transactions.

The Bench observed that the scientific analysis carried out by NML was a crucial part of the investigation and noted that the laboratory possessed specialised infrastructure and expertise required for such metallurgical examinations. The court also observed that the prosecution case was based not merely on ocular or circumstantial evidence but on scientific and forensic material.

Directing the SIT to complete the investigation in the second case and file the final report before the jurisdictional court at the earliest, the High Court posted the matter for further consideration on September 3, 2026.