In a major development, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) that was probing the alleged disappearance of gold from the Sabarimala Temple in Kerala's Pathanamthitta district has arrested former Executive Officer Sudheesh Kumar, said officials on Saturday. The development comes days after the arrest of the key accused and Bengaluru-based businessman Unnikrishnan Potty.
Additionally, the officials have also arrested former administrative officer B Murari Babu in connection with the case.
Kumar, who will be produced before the Judicial First Class Magistrate Court later, was arrested after he was questioned by the SIT at the Crime Branch office in Thiruvananthapuram. Kumar had served as the executive officer of temple in 2019 and he is accused of concealing that the Dwarapalaka (guardian deity) idols were gold-plated, instead recording them as copper sheets in the temple's official documents.
Officials said that Kumar has been associated with the them since the 1990s and was aware that the sanctum sanctorum, including the Dwarapalaka idols, had been gold-clad during 1998-99. However, when the Dwarapalaka plates were handed over to the prime accused, Unnikrishnan Potty, for gold plating in 2019, Kumar allegedly documented them as copper plates, enabling the accused to later remove the existing gold plating, an officer said.
Meanwhile, the SIT also interrogated Vasudevan, a close aide of Potty. Investigators said Vasudevan had kept the additional gold-clad pedestal of the Dwarapalaka idols in his custody, which was later seized from the house of Potty's relative in Thiruvananthapuram last month.
The SIT is investigating two related cases concerning the loss of gold from the Dwarapalaka idols and from the door frames of the Sreekovil (sanctum sanctorum), which were handed over to Potty for electroplating in 2019.
(With inputs from PTI)
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