Sabarimala gold missing row: Parts of Vijay Mallya sponsored gold plating mysteriously becomes copper

The key suspect -- Bengaluru-based Malayali Unnikrishnan Potti -- was also found to have taken gold plated panels to the home of popular actor Jayaram in Chennai.

Thiruvananthapuram: The Sabarimala gold missing row is getting murkier with portions of gold plating of the temple sponsored by former industrialist Vijay Mallya in 1998-99 is suspected to have disappeared.

The key suspect Bengaluru-based Malayali Unnikrishnan Potti  was also found to have taken gold plated panels for Sabarimala to the home of popular actor Jayaram in Chennai. 

Chennai-based gold plating firm entrusted with the repair works of the 'Dwarapalaka' (guardian) idols at the sanctum sanctorum of the Sabarimala Ayyappa temple in 2019 revealed that the panel given for plating by Potti in 2019 were copper only. 

However, the dwarapalaka idols were also reportedly gold plated with the sponsorship of Mallya in 1998-99. Around 30 kilogram was then reportedly used for the gold plating works.

Kandararu Mohanaru, who was a former tantri of the Sabarimala temple, told a section of media that the Dwarapalaka idols were also gold plated with the sponsorship of Vijay Mallya.

The fresh revelations further strengthens the  suspicions over the fall in the weight of the gold plated panels by around 4.5 kilogram that was cited by the Kerala High Court. 

The total weight of the gold cladded copper coverings was 42.8 kilograms before it was given to Potti for gold plating in August 2019. After the gold plating was done it came down to 38.258 kilogram, the HC had pointed out.

Meanwhile, actor Jayaram confirmed that some portions of the gold plated panel, which Potti claimed were meant for Sabarimala, were taken to his home in Chennai and a brief pooja performed as per his wish a few years back.

Video footage of Jayaram attending a pooja of gold plated panels in Chennai in 2019 also came out, following which the actor made the revelation. He said that he knew Potti for quite sometime and he invited him for the pooja of the gold plated items to Sabarimala. He also said that he gave a few thousands of rupees as dakshina.

It was suspected that Potti had taken the gold plated panels of Sabarimala to various places to collect donations, especially from well off devotees in south India. He was suspected to have used the pictures and videos of Jayaram attending the poojas for wooing more devotees. 

Potti, who is a native of Pulimath near Kilimanoor on the suburbs of Thiruvananthapuram, was also suspected to have purchased landed properties at various places in the recent years.

Even as the state government and the Travancore Devaswom board, which manages the temple, are trying to wash their hands of the responsibility of the discrepancies in the gold, the Congress and the BJP are stepping up the attack against the ruling CPI(M) over the issue.