One more significant arrest has been reported in connection with the Sabarimala gold loot case. This time it is N. Vasu, the two-time Thiruvithamkoor Devaswom Board Commissioner and former Devaswom Board President, who was arrested on November 11.
N. Vasu is the third accused in the case relating to the looting of gold layers from the temple’s door frame. The Special Investigation Team (SIT) arrested him and produced him before the magistrate, who subsequently remanded him to judicial custody.
The SIT had interrogated N. Vasu twice in recent weeks. The role of Vasu, who served as the Devaswom Board Commissioner in 2019, had been mentioned in the custody report of Unnikrishnan Potti, the first accused in the case. The SIT reportedly found that the gold layers from the doors of the sanctum sanctorum had been melted in March 2019.
N. Vasu had served as the Devaswom Board Commissioner twice and became its President immediately after the gold loot. Reports suggest that it was Vasu who recorded the gold layers as copper. Unnikrishnan Potti had sent an email to Vasu stating that a good quantity of gold remained after completing the gold plating work on the Dwarapalaka murtis and that he wished to gift it towards the wedding expenses of a deserving girl. N. Vasu confirmed having received such an email on 9 December 2019, but the correspondence did not specify the quantity.
Officials said Mr Vasu allegedly failed to provide a plausible explanation as to why he had insisted on, or permitted, the Thiruvithamkoor Devaswom Board (TDB) officials to “misclassify” the gilded panels as pure copper when the temple custodians dismantled the casings and handed them over to Mr Potti purportedly for repairs in 2019.
The SIT also found that Vasu had failed to ensure the presence of the temple smith and other authorised officials when the panels—donated by UB Group chairman Vijay Mallya in 1998—were disassembled for repairs. The investigation team reportedly cross-checked Vasu’s statements with those of the three arrested TDB officials, namely Murari Babu, K. Sudheesh Kumar, and K. S. Biju.
Interestingly, the investigation team has not named CPM leader and former Devaswom Board President A. Padmakumar, even though several incidents related to the gold loot allegedly took place during his tenure. The investigation team has not revealed whether the probe will extend to Padmakumar and other Devaswom Board officials, citing the confidentiality clause mandated by the High Court.
These developments expose a deeper malaise within the Thiruvithamkoor Devaswom Board and its administrative functioning, which appears aligned with a questionable agenda in managing temple affairs. The silence of CPM leaders and Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan regarding the ongoing investigation further raises concerns about the transparency of temple administration under the Communist government.
The Sabarimala Temple gold-loot case centres on alleged mis-management of gold plating of the Dwarapalaka murtis and sanctum door frames under the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB). In 1998–99, the UB Group chairman donated about 30.3 kg of 24-carat gold for the works. In 2019 a contractor, Unnikrishnan Potti, reportedly received panels for plating, but records mis-labelled gold-covered items as copper. Investigators claim originals may have been replaced with duplicates. The Special Investigation Team (SIT), ordered by the Kerala High Court, treats the case as akin to an international artefact-smuggling network
