Former TDB president A Padmakumar suspended from CPM over Sabarimala gold theft case

Former Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) president and CPM Pathanamthitta district committee member A. Padmakumar has been suspended from the party over his alleged involvement in the Sabarimala gold theft case.

The decision to suspend Padmakumar was taken at a meeting of the CPM Pathanamthitta district committee attended by senior leader Thomas Isaac. Although some sections within the party initially favoured his expulsion in the wake of the Left Democratic Front’s (LDF) setbacks in the Assembly elections, the leadership opted for the less severe measure of suspension.

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The CPM state leadership is understood to have viewed the public backlash over the Sabarimala gold theft case as a significant factor behind the LDF’s poor electoral performance. Reports suggest that the party had considered stronger disciplinary action, including expulsion. However, the Pathanamthitta district committee ultimately decided on a temporary suspension.

Speculation has emerged that a section of the party leadership was reluctant to take harsher action against Padmakumar, fearing that it could prompt him to make disclosures that might embarrass the party.

Reports indicate that Padmakumar has told close associates that he may reveal sensitive information, including details related to the 2019 Sabarimala women-entry controversy, possibly through an autobiography.

Media reports had earlier claimed that Padmakumar told associates that he and a senior police official were deliberately kept away from the Sabarimala temple’s Sannidhanam (sanctum sanctorum) to facilitate the entry of two women of menstruating age into the shrine in January 2019.

Padmakumar is an accused in multiple cases relating to the alleged misappropriation and re-plating of gold artefacts belonging to the Sabarimala temple. He previously spent more than three months in judicial custody before securing statutory bail from the Kollam Vigilance Court.