Sabarimala gold theft case: Former executive officer Sudheesh Kumar arrested

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Former executive officer Sudheesh Kumar became the latest to be arrested by the investigation team in the Sabraimala gold theft case. Sudheesh was summoned to the Eanchakkal Crime Branch office on Friday for questioning. He will be produced in the Ranni court this evening.

It is believed that Sudheesh Kumar created an opportunity for Unnikrishnan Potty to steal gold by wrongly mentioning the Dwarapalaka sculptures as copper plates and showing irregularities in the Mahazar. SP Sasidharan led the interrogation. Potty's friend and middleman, CK Vasudevan, was questioned and released.

Sudheesh Kumar was the Sabarimala Executive Officer when the layers of the Dwarapalaka sculptures were handed over to Unnikrishnan Potty for gold plating in 2019. Sudheesh Kumar recommended that Potty be made the sponsor after deliberately misleading the board by entering the gold plates as copper ones in the documents. It was not Unnikrishnan Potty who received the gold plates from the temple authority, but Sudheesh Kumar entered Potty’s name in the Mahazar. The investigation team concluded that Sudheesh had collaborated with Murari Babu to conduct the theft.