Former Devaswom Board Officer Arrested in Sabarimala Gold-Plating Theft Case After Nine-Hour Interrogation

New Delhi (India) November 1: In a major breakthrough in the case of the disappearance of gold from the Sabarimala Sannidananam, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) on Saturday arrested former Devaswom Board executive officer Sudheesh Kumar after nine hours of interrogation at the Crime Branch office in Thiruvananthapuram. 

Third Arrest in Sabarimala Gold Theft Case

According to the investigators, the former executive officer of the Sabarimala Devaswom Board, Mr. Kumar, had entered into the records claiming false information that the Dwarapalaka idols were copper-clad, while in reality, they were gold plated. 

However, his action allowed the return of gold plating while shifting the item from the Temple during the temple renovation work. He has been identified as D. Sudheesh Kumar, a former Travancore Devaswom Board who served with the TDB while at the temple in 2019. The year 2019 also forms an integral part of the investigation. The prime accused in the case, Unnikrishnan Potti and two of his friends, had offered to renovate the gold covered panels donated to the temple in 1998 by industrialist Vijay Mallya. The SIT will produce Mr. Kumar before the judicial magistrate’s court in Ranni in Pathanamthitta.

Key Accused and Seized Gold Panels

Mr. Potti and Mr. Babu are in the judicial remand sub-jail in Thiruvananthapuram. Meanwhile, the SIT has also questioned Vasudevan, a close aide of Potty, in this regard. Investigators have been told that Kollam Vasudevan had kept the gold-plated pedestal under the Dwarpalaka idols in his house and it was seized from a relative’s house last month in Thiruvananthapuram.

Sacred Site Under Spotlight

The temple on the hill of Sabarimala is the seat of Lord Ayyappa residing in the Temple where 18 hills surround it within the Periyar Tiger Reserve in Kerala’s Pathanamthitta district and has major prominence among Hindus in the peninsula and in the particular fives South Indian states who are dedicated to this temple deity. 

The row broke out in September when R Jayakrishnan, Special Commissioner for Sabarimala, reported to the High Court that the gold-clad copper panes covering the ‘dwarapalaka’ sculptures were taken out of the temple after destroying their sacrificial idols and escorted to the Private firm Smart Creations, Chennai, for renovation without seeking his permission or the Devaswom bench of the High Court. 

Two Interlinked Cases 

The SIT is investigating two cases, one of the missing gold from the Dwarpalaka sculptures and the other of gold-plated door frames of the Sreekovil. The row broke out in September at the Special Commissioner’s report to the High Court in the case of the Special Commissioner to the High Court. Both items were handed over to Potty for electroplating in 2019.