The Pampa police on Monday arrested a 53-year-old Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) employee for allegedly stealing a gold bangle offered to the Sabarimala Ayyappa temple by a devotee. The arrested was identified as Rejikumar, a native of Kottayam and an employee of the TDB Ettumanur group.
As per the case, the accused stole a bangle weighing 10.950 grams of gold, offered by a devotee on June 16. The theft came to light when the Bhandaram Special Officer found the ornament, which had been offered after informing the TDB officials on duty, missing from the collection box.
“The main hundi at the temple sopanam is connected to a conveyor belt that take the cash and ornaments to a box placed below. When the Devaswom vigilance team inspected the CCTV visuals, they found the accused standing near the box and concealing the ornament into a waste dump. The ornament was later discovered from his room during an inspection,” said an official.
Accordingly, a police complaint was lodged. The accused had reached Sabarimala on a cash-counting duty for the monthly puja season.
