Sabarimala ‘gold theft’: SIT submits report in Kerala High Court

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The special investigation team (SIT) that has been probing the alleged misappropriation of gold from the Sabarimala temple on Monday submitted a ‘progress report’ before the Kerala High Court on the investigation into the matter.

The report, submitted by S. Sasidharan, the investigating officer of the SIT, pertains to the investigation into the gold-plated/gold-clad copper plates of the temple, which had been sent to the National Metallurgical Laboratory (NML), Jamshedpur, in March.

He mentioned that the report is highly comprehensive and, when read together with the report submitted by the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), provides a clear picture of the methodology adopted (for the alleged theft of gold).

A Division Bench of Justice Raja Vijayaraghavan V. and Justice K.V. Jayakumar observed that it carefully went through the comprehensive report regarding the NML findings and found that it would go a long way in identifying the manner in which the pilferage of gold was carried out at the Sabarimala Sannidhanam.

The SIT report says that in 2019, Smart Creations, Chennai, stripped the gold cladding from the artefacts using a special salt known as “stripping salt”, procured from Mumbai. In the course of the investigation, a sample of the salt was collected and forwarded to the NML, Jamshedpur for scientific analysis, the results of which are awaited. The analysis of the special salt is crucial to establishing the method adopted by Smart Creations for stripping gold from the artefacts, says the SIT report.

However, the Prabhamandalam plates and the upper-side door frame plate could not be dismantled and examined, owing to difficulties raised by the skilled labourers engaged for the dismantling work, says the report. It also seeks to dismantle the Prabhamandalam plates and the upper-side door frame plate and to collect samples therefrom with the assistance of experts.

Based on this, the High Court granted permission to the SIT to dismantle these items and forward them to th