THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The special investigation team (SIT) probing the Sabarimala gold scam has arrested former Sabarimala administrative officer B Murari Babu, an accused in the case. He was taken into custody from his house at Perunna on Wednesday night and brought to Thiruvananthapuram, where his arrest was recorded after interrogation.
Murari was later produced before the Ranni Judicial First Class Magistrate court, which remanded him in 14-day judicial custody. Noticeably, the SIT didn’t ask for his custody.
The remand report said Murari had consciously mentioned the gold-plated sheets as copper sheets in Sabarimala records, sources said.
‘Mentioning gold-plated sheets as copper deliberate’
He had also written to former Sabarimala executive officer D Sudheesh Kumar, recommending Unnikrishnan Potti, the prime accused, to conduct electroplating of gold on the copper sheets of dwarapalaka idols and the sheets placed in the corners of the sanctum sanctorum, said sources.
According to sources, the SIT had collected incriminating evidence against Murari and some other devaswom board officials who were arraigned in the case. It was based on the findings that Murari was taken into custody. The SIT had found that some of the accused, including Murari and Sudheesh, had allegedly played a role in the subterfuge, the sources said.
The act of mentioning the gold-plated sheets as copper sheets, the SIT assessed, was deliberate and done to facilitate the fraud. Sudheesh, sources said, is also under the scanner as he had recommended the then devaswom board commissioner to permit Potti to plate gold on the sheets stripped off from the artifacts.
Sudheesh too in his communique had recorded the sheets as copper, which suggests that the act was orchestrated, they said. The devaswom vigilance officer too had made adverse remarks against the duo in his report. The officer had also suggested disciplinary action against them.