Former Travancore Devaswom Board president and ex-Devaswom Commissioner N Vasu was arrested on Tuesday by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) in connection with the Sabarimala gold heist case.
He was taken into custody after being summoned for questioning.
SIT chief SP S Sashidharan had questioned Vasu earlier, and officials confirmed that he will be produced before the court today. His arrest comes amid growing political pressure, as Vasu’s appointment to the Travancore Devaswom Board was widely seen as a political move.
Vasu had previously served as private secretary to former CPI(M) minister PK Gurudasan and was twice elected as a panchayat member on a CPI(M) ticket. Both the BJP and Congress had criticised the delay in his arrest, staging protests over the last four weeks.
The case involves the theft of gold sheets from the lintel above the Sabarimala temple door, a crucial part of a larger investigation into missing temple gold. Vasu served as Devaswom Commissioner in March 2019 and later became Board President in November of the same year.
Investigators traced a key December 9, 2019, email from the prime accused, Unnikrishnan Potti, to Vasu. In the message, Potti claimed that leftover gold remained after completing work on the doorkeepers’ statues and sanctum panels, seeking permission to use the excess gold for a wedding.
The SIT found that Vasu neither reported the irregularity nor the gold-weight discrepancy to the board. The probe also revealed that he had instructed former official Murari Babu to record the gold sheets as copper in the official mahassar.
Although Vasu was questioned earlier and released, he sought more time, citing health issues, when served a second notice. The SIT later summoned him again and took him into custody.
The Kerala High Court had earlier expressed concern over the board’s inaction against Unnikrishnan Potti despite receiving the email, calling it “surprising.” With Vasu’s arrest, he becomes the fourth person taken into custody in connection with the case.
The SIT has so far named six accused across two FIRs. Prime accused Unnikrishnan Potti and former officials Murari Babu, KS Baiju, and Sudheesh Kumar remain in judicial custody.