THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the Sabarimala gold theft case will enforce more arrests in the coming week. Also, statements of former Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) chiefs A Padmakumar and N Vasu will be recorded soon, sources said.
So far, three persons – priest-turned-businessman Unnikrishnan Potti, former Sabarimala administrative officer Murari Babu and former Sabarimala executive officer D Sudheesh Kumar – have been arrested in the case, which was registered after the Kerala High Court formed an SIT to probe the alleged theft.
Sources said the arrest of more TDB officials seems imminent as the SIT has collected evidence suggesting their involvement in the crime. A former TDB secretary, those serving as Thiruvabharanam commissioners when the subterfuge occurred and an assistant engineer of the board are on the SIT’s radar.
Sudheesh was arrested on Friday. He is accused of aiding Murari Babu in facilitating the gold theft. The SIT found he tried to conceal the fact that the temple’s dwarapalaka idols and door frames were gold-plated and instead mentioned them as copper sheets in official records.
It was in 1998 that United Breweries Group and its then chairman, industrialist Vijay Mallya, sponsored the gold-plating of the sanctum sanctorum, roof and the domes. Sudheesh and Murari had joined the TDB much earlier and were aware of the UB Group’s work. Still, they recorded the sheets as copper, which the SIT reckons was done to facilitate the fraud.
Sudheesh had also written to the TDB seeking permission to hand over the gold-clad sheets to Potti for repair in Chennai. Former TDB secretary S Jayasree, accused of tweaking the TDB order allowing Potti to take the sheets for repair, by adding that the sheets were copper, would be questioned to ascertain whether she did so deliberately. The former TDB chiefs will be questioned to ascertain if they knew about the arrested persons’ plot.
Potti’s arrest
The SIT will record the arrest of Unnikrishnan Potti in the second case, which deals with theft of gold from the door frames of the sanctum sanctorum, on Monday. He was earlier arrested in connection with the theft of gold from the dwarapalaka idols. The SIT is likely to seek his custody for further interrogation as they are set to summon more TDB officials for questioning