Overview
- D. Sudheesh Kumar, a former Travancore Devaswom Board executive officer who served at Sabarimala in 2019, was arrested after questioning in Thiruvananthapuram and will be produced before the Ranni magistrate.
- He is accused of documenting the Dwarapalaka panels as copper despite prior gold cladding, which investigators allege facilitated the removal of the original gold during restoration.
- Prime accused Unnikrishnan Potti and former administrative officer B. Murari Babu are already in judicial custody in two connected cases involving the Dwarapalaka panels and the sreekovil door frames.
- The SIT has produced about 608 grams of recovered gold in court and has seized extensive Travancore Devaswom Board records from the 1998–99 cladding and later repair files.
- Police are tracing cross‑state links involving a Chennai metalworks unit and Karnataka jewellers, and the High Court‑appointed team signals further action against other serving and retired TDB officials.