The former administrative officer of the Sabarimala temple, Murari Babu, was arrested by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) in connection with the alleged misappropriation of gold plating from Lord Ayyappa’s
shrine. This is the second arrest in the case.
Babu was taken into custody last night and brought to Thiruvananthapuram early Thursday, where he is expected to be questioned alongside Unnikrishnan Potti, another key figure entrusted with the temple’s gold-plating work in 2019 and currently under arrest.
Investigators allege that Babu manipulated temple records by registering gold items as copper, concealing the disappearance of precious material from the temple’s inventory. The SIT has seized the Travancore Devaswom Board’s 2019 Minutes Book, which documents the official decision to hand over gold sheets and plating materials to Potti.
The SIT’s report, submitted to the Kerala High Court, accused certain Board members and employees of acting on behalf of private individuals, suggesting deliberate record manipulation. Investigators also claimed the Board obstructed the probe by producing records only after repeated requests.
The Kerala High Court expressed serious concern over what it described as a “wider and well-orchestrated conspiracy.” Justices Raja Vijayaraghavan V and KV Jayakumar noted that the events since 2019 indicate a coordinated effort across multiple levels of the Devaswom Board. The judges emphasised that the gold theft cannot be seen as an isolated incident and called for an independent, court-monitored investigation to oversee the probe beyond the limits of earlier Special Commissioner proceedings.
The case dates back to 2019, when gold plating from the Dwarapalaka idols and side panels of the temple’s sanctum, or Sreekovil, was removed for refurbishment. The work was assigned to Potti, a longtime contractor associated with temple projects. Officials reportedly misclassified the gold-plated items as copper, allowing them to be removed outside temple premises. The idols were never weighed upon return, masking the discrepancy.
The SIT confirmed that Potti was permitted to retain over 400 grams of temple gold for personal use, including a family marriage, with nearly 475 grams still missing, triggering outrage within the temple administration.
