ED grills former Devaswom administrative officer Murari Babu in Sabarimala gold theft case
Sources said that the ED is examining Murari Babu’s role during his tenure as Administrative Officer.
Sources said that the ED is examining Murari Babu’s role during his tenure as Administrative Officer.
Sources said that the ED is examining Murari Babu’s role during his tenure as Administrative Officer.
Kochi: Former Devaswom Board administrative officer Murari Babu has appeared before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with the money-laundering investigation into the Sabarimala gold theft case. Babu appeared before the ED team for questioning at its Kochi zonal office at around 10 am on Tuesday, becoming the first high-ranking official to face formal questioning by the central agency in the case. Babu was earlier released from jail on statutory bail on January 23 after the Special Investigation Team (SIT) failed to file the chargesheet within the mandatory 90-day window, a delay that prompted the Kerala High Court to express serious concern.
Sources said that the ED is examining Murari Babu’s role during his tenure as Administrative Officer. It was during this period that the controversial decision was made to hand over gold-plated temple components to the prime accused, Unnikrishnan Potty. Babu is currently listed as the second accused in the case related to the misappropriation of gold from the Dwarapalaka idols of Sabarimala temple and the sixth accused in the case related to the gold theft from the door frames of the sanctum sanctorum.
Investigators allege that Babu intentionally mislabelled gold-clad temple components, including idol pedestals and door frames, as 'copper plates' in official records to facilitate their removal from the temple for illicit gold extraction.
The systematic fraud, which reportedly spanned from 2019 to 2025, involved transporting sacred items to private facilities like Smart Creations in Chennai and Roddam Jewellers in Karnataka. Under the guise of repair and replating work, gold was chemically stripped from the artefacts. A recent report from the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) confirmed this chemical removal, providing scientific backing to the SIT's findings that original gold-clad plates were tampered with while being passed off as copper.
The ED’s probe, conducted under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), is now focused on the 'proceeds of crime'. The agency recently froze eight immovable properties worth ₹1.3 crore belonging to Unnikrishnan Potty and seized a 100-gram gold bar from Smart Creations. Beyond the gold theft itself, the agency is scrutinising 'suspicious financial transactions' and 'unexplained accumulation of assets' by various officials, including potential misappropriation related to temple offerings and rituals.
As the ED widens its net, other former officials, such as D Sudheesh Kumar and S Sreekumar, are expected to be summoned following their recent release on statutory bail.