The Kerala High Court ordered the SIT to arrest former Travancore Devaswom Board president PS Prasanth in the Sabarimala gold misappropriation case. Prasanth claimed political vengeance and said his board discovered the 2019 gold robbery.

Thiruvananthapuram: Former Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) president PS Prasanth was arrested from his home in the state capital on Thursday after the Kerala High Court ordered the SIT to expedite the Sabarimala gold misappropriation probe.

Prisoned CPI(M) leaders and former TDB presidents are out on bail. Prasanth's arrest comes days after the SIT notified the High Court that it will file the final report in one of the two cases within 30 days, citing biological evidence from temple artifacts.

The court has scheduled September 3 and the SIT is considering a third case. After losing the 2021 Assembly elections, Prasanth joined the CPI(M) and became president of the Travancore Devaswom Board, which manages south Kerala temples, including Sabarimala.

Two SIT cases claim temple artifact gold theft. After the agency missed the charge sheet deadline, some arrested suspects received statutory bail.

One defendant died. Investigators will also arrest two additional Prasanth administrative team members.

After the SIT questioned Prasanth several times about the temple's Dwarapalaka (guardian) sculpture restoration, the controversy arose.

Prasanth wrote a lengthy Facebook post hours before his arrest, claiming he was being accused of exposing the 2019 gold theft. “What was our mistake in 2025?” he said, claiming his Board had operated honestly and transparently and helped expose the 2019 Sabarimala gold fraud.

He called the move against him politically motivated and expected arrest.

Prasanth claimed that sending the Dwarapalaka sculptures to Chennai for restoration was solely to remove ritual impurity from damaged sculptures that had allegedly injured temple staff during cleaning.

He said the Devaswom lost “not even a single rupee” and that the refurbished statues' weight and gold content rose following reinstallation.

He denied conspiracy and said officials forgot to notify the Special Commissioner before moving the sculptures.

He further stated that his Board submitted the 2019 data to the High Court and gave the SIT all documentation, exposing the gold swindle.