SIT indicts Tantri Kandararu Rajeevaru for criminal complicity and conspiracy in Sabarimala gold theft case

The High Court-appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT) has charged Sabarimala senior Tantri (chief priest) Kandararu Rajeevaru with criminal complicity and conspiracy in the “dishonest misappropriation” of the temple’s gold-plated religious artefacts in 2019.

In the remand report filed late Friday, the SIT also indicted Mr. Rajeevaru for misappropriation of temple property, illicit enrichment, and abuse of power for gain under various provisions of the Prevention of Corruption (PC) Act, 1988.  Earlier, the SIT had recieved legal opinion that it could deem Mr. Rajeevaru, who draws an honorarium from the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB), as a public servant.

The SIT alleged that Mr. Rajeevaru had violated the temple manual by allowing the prime accused, Unnikrishnan Potti, who was brought to the temple as a helper in 2007, to dismantle the gilded moulds covering the temple’s stone carvings, doorway and sculptures for transport to a metal works factory, Smart Creations, at Ambathur in Chennai, purportedly for restoration.