Sabarimala gold theft: Former Devaswom Board president P.S. Prashanth accused
THE Special Investigation Team (SIT) has named former Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) president P.S. Prasanth as an accused in the Sabarimala gold theft case.
He was charged alongside former board member A. Ajikumar and others for criminal breach of trust and forgery after evidence emerged regarding the highly irregular transfer of gold-clad plates in 2025.
Cover-up Conspiracy: The SIT concluded that the 2025 decision to remove and replate the temple's Dwarapalaka (guardian deity) idols was deliberately orchestrated to conceal massive, unrelated gold thefts that occurred in 2019.
Rule Violations: Prasanth’s administrative committee knowingly bypassed High Court permission and Devaswom Manual rules when they handed over the gold-clad copper plates to the prime accused, Unnikrishnan Potty.
High Court Directive: The Kerala High Court has formally permitted the SIT to register a fresh case against Prasanth and the involved board members based on this emerging evidence.
Prasanth has strongly denied the allegations, publicly claiming that the SIT's move is politically motivated. He maintains that his committee refused to hand the idols over directly to the prime accused and stated they had no prior knowledge of the 2019 irregularities.
Parallel Federal Investigation: Alongside the SIT, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has been actively investigating the money laundering aspects of the scam. The agency previously attached over ₹1.3 crore in assets connected to the prime accused involved in the fraudulent gold plating projects.
