Sabarimala gold case: Murari Babu in SIT custody for 4 days

Pathanamthitta (Kerala): The magisterial court in Pathanamthitta on Tuesday granted the Special Investigation Team (SIT) four days’ custody of B Murari Babu, an accused in the case involving the loss of gold from Sabarimala temple.

Court allowed the SIT’s request to take Babu into custody for further questioning. Babu, a former Devaswom administrative officer, is the second accused in the case concerning the missing gold from the Dwarapalaka (guardian deity) idols and the sixth accused in the matter related to the sreekovil (sanctum sanctorum) door frame.

The prime accused in both cases, Bengaluru-based businessman Unnikrishnan Potty, is currently under SIT custody, which will continue until October 30. The team had recently taken him to Karnataka and Tamil Nadu for evidence collection before returning to Kerala on October 26 evening.

Last week, the SIT carried out searches at a jewellery shop owned by Govardhan, who had reportedly funded the gold-plating of the sreekovil door frame, a project officially sponsored by Potty. Subsequent searches were conducted at Potty’s residence in Srirampura, Bengaluru, and at Smart Creation’s office in Chennai, where the electroplating of the Dwarapalaka idols’ gold-clad copper plates was carried out in 2019. Several quantities of gold were reportedly recovered during these operations.

Babu was taken into custody by the SIT last week.

The High Court of Kerala had ordered the probe after discrepancies were found in the gold content of the Dwarapalaka idols’ claddings, which were sent to Chennai for renovation in 2019. The matter came to light during proceedings initiated by the court in connection with the idols being removed again for renovation this year without prior intimation.