Former Devaswom Board official and Sabarimala gold theft case accused Murari Babu dies

Kochi: Murari Babu, former Administrative Officer (AO) of the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) and one of the key accused in the high-profile Sabarimala gold theft case, passed away in the early hours of Saturday. He was 54.

Hospital authorities said Babu died at 12.48 am at a private hospital in Kochi, where he had been undergoing treatment for a prolonged illness for the past few months. After completing the necessary formalities, the hospital released the body to his family. It is being taken to his residence in Perunna, Changanassery. The funeral is scheduled to be held at his home at 3 pm on Saturday.

Before joining the Travancore Devaswom Board, Babu had briefly served as a constable in the Kerala Police.

Murari Babu was arrested by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) on October 23, 2025, at his residence in Perunna in what was considered one of the first major breakthroughs in the investigation into the alleged theft of gold components from the Sabarimala temple.

He became one of the first senior Travancore Devaswom Board officials to be arrested in connection with the case. Investigators named him as the second accused (A2) in the case relating to the alleged theft of gold plates from the Dwarapalaka sculptures at the shrine. He was also arraigned as the sixth accused (A6) in a parallel case involving the alleged theft of gold plating from the door frames of the sanctum sanctorum.

According to the prosecution, Babu, while serving as the Sabarimala Administrative Officer in 2019, manipulated official records to facilitate and conceal the removal of gold from the temple. The SIT alleged that he deliberately recorded gold-clad sheets installed on temple structures as copper plates in official documents. Investigators further claimed that his administrative intervention enabled the genuine gold components to be dismantled and handed over to the prime accused, Unnikrishnan Potti, under the guise of carrying out temple renovation work.

During questioning, Babu maintained that decisions regarding structural works at the shrine were not taken solely at his level and required approval from higher authorities within the Travancore Devaswom Board, including the Devaswom Commissioner.

Following his arrest, Babu spent nearly three months in judicial custody. On January 23, 2026, the Kollam Vigilance Court granted him statutory bail in both cases after noting that the SIT had failed to file charge sheets within the mandatory 90-day period.

He was the first accused in the case to secure release from custody. The court, however, imposed strict conditions, including a prohibition on entering Pathanamthitta district and interacting with the media.

Following his release, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) initiated a separate probe into the alleged financial aspects of the scam and had summoned Babu to its Kochi zonal office earlier this year as part of its investigation into the money trail linked to the alleged temple fraud