Sabarimala Gold Theft: Former Executive Officer, Who Helped Prime Accused, Arrested

Last Updated:November 01, 2025, 10:59 IST

Sudheesh Kumar, ex-Travancore Devaswom Board officer, was arrested by SIT in the Sabarimala gold theft case, joining Unnikrishnan Potty and B. Murari Babu as accused.

Devotees stand in a queue to offer their prayers at the Lord Ayyappa temple in Sabarimala. (Image: PTI/File)

As probe deepens into the alleged gold theft at Sabarimala temple in Kerala, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) has arrested former Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) executive officer, Sudheesh Kumar, in connection with the case, officials said on Saturday.

The TDB is the administrative body responsible for the management of the Sabarimala temple.

Kumar, who served as the executive officer of the hill shrine in 2019, was taken into custody after being questioned at the Crime Branch office in Thiruvananthapuram. He is accused of concealing the fact that the Dwarapalaka (guardian deity) idols were gold-plated, and instead recording them as copper sheets in official temple documents, news agency PTI reported.

According to sources, Kumar’s association with Sabarimala dates back to the 1990s, and he was aware that the sanctum sanctorum and the Dwarapalaka idols had been clad in gold 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. Investigators believe this enabled the accused to remove the existing gold plating without detection.

Kumar is the third person to be arrested in the case, following Potty and former administrative officer B. Murari Babu. He will be produced before the Judicial First Class Magistrate Court later in the day, officials said.

Meanwhile, the SIT also questioned Vasudevan, a close aide of Potty. Investigators allege he had kept the additional gold-clad pedestal of the Dwarapalaka idols in his possession. The pedestal was later recovered from the house of a relative of Potty in Thiruvananthapuram last month.

The SIT is probing two connected cases—one involving the loss of gold from the Dwarapalaka idols and the other pertaining to gold missing from the door frames of the Sreekovil (sanctum sanctorum). Both sets of items had been handed over to Potty for electroplating in 2019.

Manisha Roy

Manisha Roy is a Senior Sub-Editor at News18.com's general desk. She comes with an experience of over 5 years in media industry. She covers politics and other hard news. She can be contacted at Manisha.Roy@nw18...Read More

Manisha Roy is a Senior Sub-Editor at News18.com's general desk. She comes with an experience of over 5 years in media industry. She covers politics and other hard news. She can be contacted at Manisha.Roy@nw18...

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