Pathanamthitta (Kerala): The Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the alleged disappearance of gold from the Sabarimala temple has arrested former executive officer Sudheesh Kumar, officials said on Saturday.

Kumar, who served at the hill shrine in 2019, was taken into custody after being questioned at the Crime Branch office in Thiruvananthapuram, sources confirmed.

He has been accused of deliberately failing to disclose that the Dwarapalaka (guardian deity) idols were covered in gold, and instead recording them as copper-plated in official documents.

According to sources, Kumar has been associated with Sabarimala since the 1990s and was aware that the sanctum sanctorum, including the Dwarapalaka idols, had been gold-clad during 1998–99.

However, when the Dwarapalaka plates were handed over to the prime accused, Unnikrishnan Potti, in 2019 for gold plating, Kumar allegedly recorded them as copper plates. This misrepresentation is suspected to have enabled the accused to remove and misappropriate the existing gold plating, an officer said.

He is the third person to be arrested in the case, following Potti and former administrative officer B Murari Babu.

Officials said Kumar will be produced before the Judicial First Class Magistrate Court later in the day.

Meanwhile, the SIT also questioned Vasudevan, a close aide of Potti. Investigators said he had taken custody of the additional gold-clad pedestal of the Dwarapalaka idols, which was later recovered from the residence of one of Potti's relatives in Thiruvananthapuram last month.

The SIT is investigating two connected cases—one involving missing gold from the Dwarapalaka idols and another concerning gold lost from the Sreekovil (sanctum sanctorum) door frames, both of which were handed over to Potti in 2019 for electroplating. PTI