Murari Babu, former administrative officer of Sabarimala, arrested in gold theft case

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Murari Babu, the former administrative officer of Sabarimala, has been arrested in the gold theft case. He is the second accused in the case of smuggling gold-plated sheets of Dwarapalaka idols. He was arrested after grilling him by a team led by SP S Sasidharan at the crime branch office in Eanchakkal. He was taken into custody last night from his house in Perunna.

It was Murari Babu, presently serving as the deputy commissioner, who recorded in the Mahasar that the gold-plated sheets of Dwarapalaka idols were copper plates. Following this, the devaswom board had suspended him.

However, Murari Babu said there was no lapse in the incident and gave it for gold plating as the sheets were found to be copper plated. He explained that he had only given a preliminary report and that the approval was given by the officials above him after the inspection. This is the second arrest in the gold theft case. Sponsor Unnikrishnan Potty was arrested earlier.