Dealings of crores; registers land in own name by giving money for interest, secret investigation against Unnnikrishnan Potty

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A secret investigation has been initiated against Unnikrishnan Potty, one of the sponsors of the gold plating of Dwarapalaka idols in Sabarimala. It is reported that Unnikrishnan Potty has land transactions worth crores in Thiruvananthapuram alone. The investigation has been launched based on information that he had registered land in his own name in many places by giving money for exorbitantly high interest rates. The documents of land transactions worth more than Rs 30 crore in just three years have been found.

A former devaswom contractor is the middleman of Unnikrishnan Potty in the capital city. Reports that come say that he made land transactions in his own name and also in the wife's and mother's name. More information came to light the other day in the investigation conducted by the devaswom vigilance against Unnikrishnan Potty. Following this, the vigilance has asked Unnikrishnan Potty to appear for detailed questioning tomorrow.

Although the sheets were taken off on July 20, 2019, they were delivered to Smart Creation in Chennai only after 40 days. Unnikrishnan Potty will have to explain where the gold sheets were for a month. Devaswom employees will also have to answer for not recording the weight loss of four kilograms in the Mahasar when it was brought back.

Meantime, an emergency meeting of the Travancore Devaswom Board will be held today as the controversy over it intensifies. The meeting, which will be held without setting an agenda, will finalize the stand to be taken in the high court. Devaswom Board President P S Prashanth himself had admitted that there was a lapse in the issue. The emergency board meeting is being held amidst this.