Kerala Court Grants Bail To Prime Accused, Unnikrishnan Potti In Sabarimala Gold Theft Case
Kollam, Kerala: A vigilance court in Kerala’s Kollam has granted bail to Unnikrishnan Potti, the prime accused in the Sabarimala gold theft case. Delivering the ruling, Enquiry Commissioner and Special Judge Mohit CS noted that the Special Investigation Team failed to file chargesheets within the prescribed 90 days under the law and hence entitling the accused to statutory bail.
Potti had earlier secured another similar statutory bail in a connected case involving misappropriation of gold form the Dwarapalaka (guardian deity) idols. Meanwhile, the current case is connected to the loss of gold from the door frames of the Sreekovil (sanctum sanctorum) at the Sabarimala temple.
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Potti was arrested in October 2025. The two cases are related to the gold missing from the temple’s copper plates coverings on the Dwarapalaka idols and the door frames at the Sabarimala temple.
It is alleged that Potti secured permission to sponsor repair works for the items, enabling him to misappropriate the temple gold of nearly 4 kg from the same. Authorities had recovered some of the missing gold after repair work from Potti’s sister’s house, leading to his arrest.
The Special Investigation Team on the directions of the Kerala High Court booked Potti for offences under Sections 120B (criminal conspiracy), 403 (dishonest misappropriation of property), 406 (criminal breach of trust), 409 (criminal breach of trust by a public servant), 466 (forgery of court or public records) and 467 (forgery of valuable security), read with Section 34 (common intention) of the IPC, along with Section 13(1)(a) of the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Act, 2018.
