THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Instead of pure gold, artificial gold was found in the locker of the RDO Court. It was noticed during an inspection by the police. The police made the appraiser examine the full mainour (thondimuthal) after opening the locker. 69 sovereigns of gold were found missing. Only then they came to know that fraud keeping artificial gold has taken place.

The police inspection report confirmed the findings of the sub-collector that 69 sovereigns had gone missing from the RDO locker. With this, the mystery about the disappearance of gold has increased. The sub-collector's investigation initially revealed that 69 sovereigns of gold, cash and silver were missing from the mainour (thondimuthal) kept in the locker by the RDO. The police investigation started on the complaint of the sub-collector that the thondimuthal kept between 2010 and 2019 had gone missing. The police opened and examined the mainour since 2007. The four-day-long inspection compared the register and the mainour.

According to the register, about 500 sovereigns of gold was in the locker. The mainour mentioned in the report of the sub collector is missing. The mainour which reached the locker until 2007 were audited and transferred to the treasury. So the ones that came after that were examined. The investigation is focusing on officials after 2017 as there is mystery in the incident. Police said they will get information without much delay.