Gold and money taken in addition; flagpole takes its place in Sabarimala gold theft case

KOCHI: The Devaswom Vigilance report suggests that gold and money may have been misused in the name of flagpole installation. The Devaswom bench comprising Justices V Raja Vijayaraghavan and KV Jayakumar directed the Vigilance Director to appoint a team of competent officers for a preliminary investigation to confirm the crime.

Devaswom records, mahasars and other evidence from 2016 should be seized and handed over to the Vigilance Director. The preliminary investigation report should be submitted to the court within 30 days. The matter will be considered on the 19th. SIT SP S. Sasidharan and Devaswom Chief Vigilance and Security Officer V. Sunil Kumar should appear in person then.

3.21 crore was paid by Hyderabad-based Phoenix Infrastructure India Private Limited Company as per the estimate. The Devaswom Board purchased 9.161 kg of pure gold from the Kochi Customs Office through the SBI Kochi Wellington branch. An account was opened in the name of the Devaswom Executive Officer at Dhanalakshmi Bank, Pathanamthitta. However, high-ranking officials accepted money and gold from many people in the name of sponsorship. This includes gold given by an actor and gold biscuits given by a producer. Statements of 27 people who gave gold need to be taken. There was a failure to issue Form 3A receipts detailing the quantity of gold to those who gave gold. Individual measurements were not recorded. The flagpole was reconstructed in 2017 by the Devaswom Board headed by Prayar Gopalakrishnan.

Permission to test gold plating samples in state-of-the-art lab

The High Court has permitted the SIT's demand for further scientific examination to find out the true extent of the gold theft. The decision was made to conduct the scientific examination at one of the Mumbai Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Jamshedpur National Metallurgical Laboratory or Hyderabad Defence Metallurgical Research Laboratory. The High Court also gave permission to collect samples from Sabarimala on the 12th. The action of the Devaswom bench comprising Justice V Raja Vijayaraghavan and Justice K V Jayakumar was based on the assessment that extremely detailed scientific evidence is essential for the trial of the gold theft case that has affected even the sanctity of Sabarimala. The High Court also directed that the lab where the samples will be tested be informed on the 19th.

Three tests

1. X-ray Fluorescence Spectroscopy (XRF)

2. Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS)

3. Optical Emission Spectroscopy (OES)

It will be clear how much gold was coated and how much gold was removed for plating. It will also be possible to know whether the copper-gold layers have been replaced.