T’PURAM/P’THITTA : The Special Investigation Team (SIT) on Thursday arrested former Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) Thiruvabharanam Commissioner in connection with the theft of gold from dwarapalaka idols in Sabarimala. K S Baiju was arrested after the sleuths questioned him at the Crime Branch office in Thiruvananthapuram.
Baiju has been listed as the seventh accused in the case and the charge against him is that he deliberately skipped the event in 2019 where gold sheets from Sabarimala were handed over to the main accused Unnikrishnan Potti.
Being the custodian of the holy artefacts of the hill shrine, it was Baiju’s responsibility to maintain the mahzar regarding valuables of the temple and also to take stock of the weight and condition of the artefacts. The SIT finding is that he consciously made lapses in his duty to aid the loot orchestrated by Potti and others.
He is also alleged to have recorded gold-plated sheets as copper sheets on Sabarimala records, which was part of the ploy to loot gold. The SIT had earlier arrested three people, Potti and two TDB former officials, in connection with the case. With the arrest of former TDB officials, noose is tightening around heavyweights, including former TDB chief N Vasu.
Custody of Murari Babu, Sudheesh Kumar sought
The SIT has sought court permission to get former Sabarimala officials Murari Babu and D Sudheesh Kumar back into custody for further interrogation. The move comes as part of the team’s renewed focus on verifying details related to the alleged tampering of gold from the sanctum’s door and door frames.
The petition was filed before the Ranni court, citing the need for additional time to question the accused in connection with discrepancies found in the temple’s structural components. The SIT maintained that further custodial interrogation was essential to gather more technical and documentary evidence linked to the suspected misappropriation of temple property.