On January 20, 2026, the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) launched surprise raids in Kerala, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu in connection with the Sabarimala gold theft money laundering case. The raids targeted many sites, including the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) headquarters in Thiruvananthapuram and the home of ex-TDB president and CPI(M) leader A Padmakumar in Aranmula. ED officials, backed by armed paramilitary forces, raided the residences of key suspects: Unnikrishnan Potti, the prime accused, in Pulimathu, Thiruvananthapuram; former TDB commissioner and president N Vasu in Pettah; and former TDB executive officer Murari Babu in Perunna, Kottayam. In Chennai, the ED raided Smart Creations owner Pankaj Bhandari's office and home in Ambattur. In Karnataka, jeweller Govardhan’s shop in Bellary was also searched. The raids follow a court order from December 2025 that allowed the ED to investigate under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). This move overruled concerns that the ED's probe could interfere with the ongoing Special Investigation Team (SIT) inquiry by the Kerala High Court. The SIT previously charged 13 people, including Sabarimala’s chief priest Kantararu Rajeevaru, for facilitating the theft of gold-plated moulds from the temple’s sanctum sanctorum. These panels, gifted by industrialist Vijay Mallya in 1998, were restored in 2019. The TDB faces allegations of illegally handing over restoration work to Potti and misrepresenting the panels as pure copper to cover the crime. The fraud was detected in 2025 after vigilance found a significant loss of gold upon the panels' return from refurbishment. Further, jeweller Govardhan is accused of taking a share of the gold removed through chemical processing. There is an ongoing probe into whether the original panels were replaced with cheaper copper copies and the real ones sold. Charges include violations under the Prevention of Corruption Act and Indian Penal Code for forgery, conspiracy, cheating by impersonation, theft, and offences under PMLA. The ED raids aim to seize documents, digital data, cash, gold, and valuables to trace benami dealings and confirm money laundering activities.