Actor Jayaram appears before ED for questioning in Sabarimala gold case

Actor Jayaram appeared before the zonal office of the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) in Kochi on Tuesday (February 17, 2026) for questioning in connection with the Sabarimala gold theft case.

He reached the office around 11 a.m. “Let the truth come out. It is the responsibility of every Malayali to bring out the truth behind such allegations,” he told mediapersons before entering the ED office.

He was asked to appear for questioning in the wake of his association and reported financial transactions with Unnikrishnan Potti, the prime accused in the case.

Mr. Potti had reportedly made financial gains by taking the door frame and door of the Sabarimala temple, considered sacred by devotees, during their renovation. Reportedly, Mr. Potti convinced people that bringing such sacred objects from Sabarimala into their homes would bring prosperity.

The Kerala High Court-appointed special investigation team (SIT) probing the case had also questioned Mr. Jayaram last month. The actor was questioned at his residence in Chennai about the number of times he had participated in pujas with Mr. Potti and whether there were any financial transactions between them.

He was questioned following circulation of videos showing him participating in a puja organised in Chennai in 2019 by Mr. Potti with the artefacts taken from the temple for gold plating. The actor had then denied any wrongdoing and said he had no links with the company where the re-plating of gold-clad artefacts of the temple was done or its sponsors.

The Kochi unit of ED had last month registered an ECIR (Enforcement Case Information Report) in the alleged Sabarimala gold theft case under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) after receiving permission from the Central government.

The ED had begun preliminary inquiries into the alleged theft in October last year after potential money laundering aspects surfaced. The agency subsequently moved a petition before the Kollam Vigilance Court seeking custody of case-related documents. The petition argued that alleged acts of forgery, misappropriation of temple gold, and suspected laundering linked to Sabarimala constituted offences under Section 467 of the Indian Penal Code, a scheduled offence under PMLA.

Reportedly, the ED has so far issued summons to 12, of which only three figured in the SIT’s chargesheet. The agency had questioned S. Jayasree, former Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) secretary in connection with the gold theft case. The ED had also interrogated S. Sreekumar and Murari Babu, former Sabarimala administrative officers.