PATHANAMTHITTA: The Judicial First Class Magistrate Court, Ranni, on Tuesday granted police four days’ custody of Murari Babu, a Travancore Devaswom Board employee accused in the alleged Sabarimala gold theft case, for detailed interrogation.
According to officials, the special investigation team (SIT), probing the case, will question Babu alongside former priest-turned-businessman Unnikrishnan Potti, the prime accused in the case.
The SIT requested his custody to investigate the alleged conspiracy and to determine if any financial transactions occurred between him and Potti. Earlier, the probing team had informed the court that Murari Babu had a key role in the larger conspiracy.
Following the court’s order, the SIT team escorted Babu to the Crime Branch office in Thiruvananthapuram. Officials indicated that both accused may be brought together for evidence collection in the coming days.
The custody period of Unnikrishnan Potti will continue until October 30.
Meanwhile, the SIT has sought additional documents related to the gold-plating work at Sabarimala undertaken by businessman Vijay Mallya in 1999.
The team stated that the renovation records from Sabarimala are crucial to the ongoing investigation and warned that no further time would be granted to officials to produce the required documents.