Ex-TDB chief Prasanth held in Sabarimala gold theft case
Former Travancore Devaswom Board president P.S. Prasanth and former board member A. Ajikumar arrested by the Special Investigation Team in the Sabarimala gold theft case.
- The Special Investigation Team is investigating alleged theft and financial irregularities in the Sabarimala gold case.
- Former Travancore Devaswom Board president P.S. Prasanth and former board member A. Ajikumar were taken into custody and remanded to judicial custody for 13 days.
- The High Court had pressed the Special Investigation Team to file its final chargesheet by the end of the month.
The Special Investigation Team probing the Sabarimala gold theft case has arrested former Travancore Devaswom Board president P.S. Prasanth and former board member A. Ajikumar. The arrests make the inquiry more serious because the case now directly involves former office-bearers of the temple body responsible for administration and asset custody.
Investigators say the case concerns the illegal transport of gold-plated panels from the temple’s guardian deity sculptures to Chennai in 2025. The Special Investigation Team believes the movement was used to conceal earlier theft and financial irregularities dating back to 2019.
The High Court had earlier pressed the Special Investigation Team to file its final chargesheet by the end of the month. That direction shows judicial monitoring of a sensitive case involving alleged diversion of temple property and possible institutional lapses.
UPSC may frame the issue as a governance and accountability question around the management of temple assets, the role of investigative agencies, and the supervisory role of the judiciary in ensuring a time-bound probe and chargesheet in a sensitive public-institution case.
