Former Travancore Devaswom Board president P.S. Prasanth (left) and former board member A. Ajikumar (file)
Former Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) president P.S. Prasanth and board member A. Ajikumar have been remanded to one-day custody in connection with the Sabarimala gold theft case. The Kollam Vigilance Court granted the custody request made by the Special Investigation Team (SIT), ordering the duo to be produced back before the court by Tuesday (July 28, 2026) evening. Both accused are currently held in remand at a jail in Thiruvananthapuram.The SIT moved the court for the custody to carry out detailed interrogations after discovering critical leads in the scam.According to the investigation, the TDB under Mr. Prasanth’s tenure in 2025 dispatched gold plates to Smart Creations in Chennai in an attempt to cover up a previous gold theft that occurred in 2019. Investigators now plan to interrogate both Mr. Prasanth and Mr. Ajikumar together during this custody period to uncover deeper operational details and expose additional conspirators.Meanwhile, the SIT’s investigation has widened, leading to a delay in filing the comprehensive chargesheet as new findings come to light. Investigators had identified fresh fraudulent activity surrounding the 2025 transfer of the Dwarapalaka (guardian deity) gold panels, discovering that gold was extracted from four of the 12 panels sent to the Chennai-based firm.Reportedly, the team expects to issue summons to more individuals for questioning in the coming days. Published - July 28, 2026 02:31 pm IST
