Sabarimala gold heist: One more held in Sabarimala gold heist

Thiruvananthapuram: Authorities on Wednesday arrested another former employee of the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) in connection with the Sabarimala Ayyappa temple gold heist.

The special investigation team produced former administrative officer S Sreekumar before the court, which remanded the accused.

Sreekumar was serving as an administrative officer while the metal covering of the 'Dwarapalaka' idols were removed and handed over to Bengaluru-based Malayali Unnikrishnan Potti for gold plating. He was earlier arraigned in the case.

With this, the total arrested in the case reached seven. Former presidents of TDB, A Padmakumar and N Vasu, three officials and Potti were earlier arrested by the SIT.

Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) former president and former CPM MLA A Padmakumar was reportedly held in connection with the Sabarimala Ayyappa temple gold heist.

TDB former secretary, S Jayasree, who was also arraigned in the case, is likely to be arrested soon.

Former president of the TDB, P S Prasanth, is also likely to be quizzed by the SIT.

Meanwhile, the special investigation team is learnt to have started a preliminary verification into the suspicions that an international antique smuggling racket was involved in the scam.

Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala and a NRI businessman had shared some information to the SIT in this regard.