It’s Tuesday, January 20, 2026, and if you thought the Sabarimala case was just a local police matter, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) just blew the lid off the “money trail.”1
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Starting at dawn today, the ED launched coordinated raids at 21 locations across Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Karnataka.2 The thing is, this isn’t just about “missing gold”—it’s a massive money-laundering probe into what the High Court called an “organised pilferage” of sacred temple valuables.3 Or nothing. Let’s be real, raiding the headquarters of the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) is a huge statement. Those too.
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The “Sabarimala Scrape”: Field Notes
It’s an ongoing situation where the “heist” was allegedly hidden in plain sight for years.
The “Chemical” Extraction: The thing is, the ED’s preliminary probe found that sacred gold-clad artefacts were deliberately labeled as “copper plates” in official files so they could be sneaked out.4 They were sent to private facilities in Chennai and Karnataka where the gold was chemically “stripped off” and replaced with cheap acrylic-layered plating.
The High Court “Pandora’s Box”: Just yesterday, the Kerala High Court saw a bombshell report from the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC).5 The thing is, the scientific tests confirmed the 2019 “repairs” used low-quality gold, while the original 1998 gold (donated by Vijay Mallya) has vanished.
Who’s Under the Scanner? The raids hit the homes of the “Big Three”: prime accused Unnikrishnan Potti, former TDB President A.6 Padmakumar, and former member N. Vasu. The thing is, even the current Chief Priest (Tantri Kandararu Rajeevaru) is named in the ED’s case, although they haven’t raided his house yet.
The Ballari Link: Investigators found that a lot of the “melted” gold eventually ended up with a jeweller in Ballari, Karnataka. And here’s the kicker—the ED is looking into whether some of this money was funneled into benami real estate deals. Those too.
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Sabarimala Gold Case: Raid & Arrest Tracker (Jan 20, 2026)
| Accused Name | Role | Current Status |
| Unnikrishnan Potti | Contractor / Prime Accused | In SIT Custody; ED raiding house. |
| A. Padmakumar | Former TDB President | In Judicial Remand; House raided today. |
| Kandararu Rajeevaru | Chief Priest (Tantri) | Arrested by SIT on Jan 9/15. |
| K.P. Sankaradas | Former TDB Member | Arrested Jan 14 from a hospital. |
| Smart Creations7 | Chennai-based firm8 | Office raided; suspected site of extraction.9 |
| Govardhan10 | Ballari Jeweller11 | Raided; suspected buyer of “proceeds.”12 |
And Here’s the Kicker…
The thing is, the ED is now looking at a potential “Antiquities Heist” too. Or nothing. There’s a theory that the old relics were worth 10 times their weight in gold on the international black market, and the “theft” was just a cover to swap them with modern replicas.13
It’s an ongoing situation where the Kerala government is under immense pressure. The thing is, the ED took over the case only after a Vigilance Court overruled the state’s objections.14 Now that the PMLA (Money Laundering) hammer has dropped, we might see some high-profile assets being attached in the next few days. Those too.
Also Read |Tamil Nadu Voter List Purge: 97 Lakh Names Deleted in SIR Phase 1
End…
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