Temple Ex-Official Detained As Probe Continues In Sabarimala Gold Theft Case

The former administrative officer of the Sabarimala temple was detained by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) in connection with the misappropriation of gold plating from Lord Ayyappa's sacred shrine. Murari Babu, detained last night, was taken into custody by the SIT and brought to Thiruvananthapuram early Thursday morning. 

He is expected to be jointly questioned alongside Unnikrishnan Potti, another key figure who had been entrusted with the temple's gold-plating work in 2019 and is now under arrest.

According to investigators, Babu allegedly manipulated temple records by registering gold items as copper, a substitution that concealed the disappearance of precious material from the temple's inventory. 

The SIT has seized the Travancore Devaswom Board's Minutes Book from 2019, which contains the official decision to hand over the gold sheets and plating materials to Unnikrishnan Potti. The SIT's report, submitted to the Kerala High Court, has accused certain members and employees of the Devaswom Board of acting on behalf of private individuals, pointing to clear manipulation in official records.

Investigators have also accused the Board of deliberate obstruction, claiming that it only produced records after repeated requests, further fuelling suspicions of a cover-up.

The Kerala High Court on Tuesday expressed deep concern over what it described as a wider and well-orchestrated conspiracy. In its observations, the Bench of Justices Raja Vijayaraghavan V and KV Jayakumar noted that the series of events since 2019 strongly suggests a coordinated effort at multiple levels of the Travancore Devaswom Board.

The judges said the gold theft cannot be brushed aside as an isolated act, stressing the possibility of a systemic conspiracy that may have spanned several years and multiple temple works.

The court document accessed by NDTV summarises the intention that the judiciary wants an independent court-monitored probe to supervise and monitor the Sabarimala gold theft investigation, which is free from the technical limits of the earlier Special Commissioner's report proceedings.

The origins of the case trace back to 2019, when the gold plating from the Dwarapalaka idols and side panels of the temple's sanctum-known as the Sreekovil-was reportedly removed for refurbishment. The task was entrusted to Unnikrishnan Potti, a long-time contractor and "sponsor" associated with temple renovation projects.

Investigations later revealed that officials misclassified the gold-plated idols as 'copper plates', enabling their removal from the shrine in violation of rules that require such sacred works to be done inside the temple premises. The idols were never weighed upon return, allowing the discrepancy in gold quantity to go unnoticed for years.

The SIT has now confirmed that Unnikrishnan Potti was permitted to retain over 400 grams of temple gold, reportedly to use some for a family marriage. In total, nearly 475 grams of gold remain missing, a revelation that has rocked the state's temple administration.