Archive · 2 Nov 2025
Former Sabarimala Officer Arrested in Gold Theft Conspiracy
A former manager at the Sabarimala temple, named Sudheesh, has been arrested.
He is accused of being part of a plan to steal gold from the temple.
In 2019, when some gold-covered idols at the temple needed to be re-plated, Sudheesh allegedly wrote in official papers that these idols were made of copper, not gold.
He also helped give these idols to a person named Unnikrishnan for the plating work.
By calling them copper, the plan may have made it easier to take the real gold off without being noticed right away.
This is the third arrest in the investigation.
Detectives also took many old documents from the temple board's office that talk about gold work done years ago.
They also found extra gold-covered parts of the idols.
Former Sabarimala executive officer Sudheesh Kumar arrested for alleged involvement in temple gold theft conspiracy.
Kumar accused of misrepresenting gold-plated Dwarapalaka idols as copper in official documents in 2019.
He allegedly facilitated handing over of idols to Unnikrishnan Potty for gold plating, enabling removal of original gold.
The removal of plates was done without the presence of the TDB sacred ornament commissioner.
An additional gold-clad pedestal of the idols, kept by Potty's aide Vasudevan, was seized.
- Who
- Sudheesh Kumar (Former Executive Officer of Sabarimala temple), Unnikrishnan Potty (prime accused), B Murari Babu (former administrative officer), Vasudevan (aide of Potty)
- What
- Arrest of former temple executive officer Sudheesh Kumar for allegedly concealing the gold-plating of Dwarapalaka idols and documenting them as copper to facilitate theft.
- When
- Saturday (arrest of Sudheesh Kumar); 2019 (incident of documenting idols as copper); Additional gold-clad pedestal seized last month.
- Where
- Sabarimala temple; Crime Branch office in Thiruvananthapuram; Judicial First Class Magistrate Court in Pathanamthitta.
- Why
- Allegedly to enable the removal of existing gold plating from Dwarapalaka idols by misrepresenting them as copper sheets in official documents.
- Arrested Individual
- Sudheesh Kumar (Former Executive Officer of Sabarimala temple)
- Allegation
- Concealing gold plating of Dwarapalaka idols, documenting them as copper to facilitate gold removal.
- Temple
- Sabarimala Ayyappa temple
- Year of Incident
- 2019
- Related Arrests
- Unnikrishnan Potty, B Murari Babu
- Seized Item
- Additional gold-clad pedestal of Dwarapalaka idols
- Date of Arrest
- Saturday
