Former administrative officer Sreekumar arrested in Sabarimala gold theft case

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: One more official has been arrested in the Sabarimala gold theft case. The special investigating team (SIT) arrested former administrative officer Sreekumar. Sreekumar is one of the officials who signed the Mahasar while giving the gold-plated sheets of Dwarpalaka idols to Unnikrishnan Potty in 2019. He was arrested after the high court rejected his anticipatory bail plea. However, Sreekumar claimed that as an official, he only moved the file on the directions from the top level.

Meantime, the Kollam Vigilance Court has extended the judicial remand of A Padmakumar, former MLA and president of the Devaswom Board for 14 days in the case of the theft of gold-plated sheets of the Dwarpalaka idols of the Sabarimala temple. His remand period in the theft of gold from the door frames ends on Thursday.

The bail plea of Padmakumar filed in the case of stealing the gold plated sheets of Dwarpalaka idols will be considered on December 22. A report from the SIT has been sought in this case. Unnikrishnan Potty and Murari Babu, who were released from SIT custody the other day, were produced before the court last evening, remanded and sent to jail.

Murari Babu was remanded in the case of stealing the gold plating of the Dwarpalaka idols and Unnikrishnan Potty in the case of stealing the gold plating of the door frames in SIT custody for two days. This was done after considering SIT's request for further interrogation based on newly obtained evidence. Public Prosecutor Siju Rajan appeared for the prosecution.