‘Brass will raise suspicion, copper is better’: Padmakumar trapped by his own handwriting in Sabarimala gold theft case

Pathanamthitta: In the conspiracy to steal gold from the Sabarimala door panel, the word “brass” had originally been decided upon. The then Travancore Devaswom Board president, A Padmakumar, who has been arrested, struck out the word brass in his own handwriting and replaced it with “copper”. It is this alteration that has now implicated him. The course of investigation may extend towards two other board members of that time.

In 2019, the report submitted to the Devaswom Board by Commissioner Vasu and his team had the word brass. When it came before the board for consideration, President A Padmakumar reportedly pointed out the risk of using the word brass. Murari Babu, Sudheesh Kumar, Vasu and others had used that term because brass has a colour similar to gold.

However, there was a conc