Sabarimala Gold Theft Case: Ex-Officer Who Logged Gold sculptures As Copper To Help Accused Arrested

Sabarimala Gold Theft Case: Former Travancore Devaswom Board executive officer, Sudheesh Kumar, has been arrested after detailed questioning in connection with the Sabarimala gold theft case. After detailed questioning, the Special Investigative Team (SIT) arrested Kumar on Thursday evening.

Probes revealed that Sudheesh Kumar, aware that the gatekeeper sculptures featured genuine gold plating, still logged them as mere 'copper layers' in the records.

The SIT said that he helped the main accused, Unnikrishnan Potti, steal the gold by tampering with the mahasar (official record).

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In 2019, Sudheesh was the Sabarimala executive officer. He let Unnikrishnan Potti become a sponsor. He told the Devaswom Board that the material was mere copper sheets, although it was made of gold. Even when officials tampered with the sculptures, Sudheesh continued to describe them as copper in the records.

The police found proof that Sudheesh Kumar wrote Unnikrishnan Potti’s name in the temple records to hide the theft. Potti was supposed to get the gold sheets, but he never did.

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Investigators also learned that Sudheesh helped another man, Murari Babu, steal the gold from the Sabarimala temple. On Saturday, the police will take Sudheesh to the court in Ranni. They want to keep him in custody to ask more questions.