Sabarimala gold theft case: ED summons former TDB secretary S. Jayasree and intermediary Kalpesh

ED summons former TDB secretary and intermediary in Sabarimala gold theft case, expanding investigation into alleged financial misconduct.

The Directorate of Enforcement (ED) has issued notices to former Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) secretary S. Jayasree and Kalpesh, an alleged intermediary, in the Sabarimala gold theft case. They have been asked to appear for interrogation at the Kochi office of the ED next week.

The investigative agency has also summoned actor Jayaram for interrogation next week over his alleged association and suspected financial transactions with the prime accused in the case, Unnikrishnan Potti. This was following circulation of videos showing the actor participating in a puja organised in Chennai in 2019 by Mr. Potti with the artefacts taken from the temple for gold plating.

Allegedly, Ms. Jayasree had made corrections in the minutes of board documents, and Mr. Kalpeshhad handed over gold from Smart Creations, a Chennai-based firm where the gold plating of the temple artefacts was carried out, to the Bellary-based gold merchant Govardhan.

Meanwhile, the Kerala High Court-appointed special investigation team (SIT) probing the case has approached the Supreme Court opposing the anticipatory bail plea of Ms. Jayasree. While denying a similar plea, the High Court had observed that Ms. Jayasree’s role is “well-made-out” prima facie.

The Kochi unit of the ED had last month registered an ECIR (Enforcement Case Information Report) in the case under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The ED had began preliminary inquiries in the case last October after potential money laundering aspects surfaced. The agency subsequently moved a petition before the Kollam Vigilance Court seeking custody of case-related documents. The petition argued that alleged acts of forgery, misappropriation of temple gold, and suspected laundering linked to Sabarimala constituted offences under Section 467 of the Indian Penal Code, a scheduled offence under PMLA.