Kerala court grants statutory bail to former TDB officer in Sabarimala gold loss cases

Kollam (Kerala): A court here on Friday granted statutory bail to former TDB administrative officer Murari Babu in two cases related to the alleged gold loss from the Sabarimala temple.

Kollam Vigilance Court Judge Mohit C S granted bail to Babu as 90 days had elapsed since his arrest, and the Special Investigation Team (SIT) had failed to file chargesheets in the two cases.

Babu is the second accused in the case related to the alleged gold loss from the Dwarapalaka (guardian deity) idol plates and the sixth accused in the case pertaining to the alleged gold loss from the doorframes of the Sreekovil (sanctum sanctorum).

Babu, who is currently lodged at a Special Sub Jail in Thiruvananthapuram, is expected to be released by Friday evening.

He will be the first person arrested in the Sabarimala gold loss cases to be released from jail.

He was arrested in October last year on allegations that, when the prime accused, Unnikrishnan Potty, proposed electroplating the Dwarapalaka idols and the Sreekovil doorframes, Babu forwarded the proposal to the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB).

He was arrested on charges of conspiracy related to the alleged gold loss.

At the time of his arrest, Babu was serving as Deputy Devaswom Commissioner in Haripad and was subsequently suspended from service after the gold loss incident came to light last year.

Earlier, Potty was granted statutory bail by the court in the Dwarapalaka idol case.

The SIT has so far arraigned 16 people as accused in the Dwarapalaka idol case and 13 people in the Sreekovil doorframe case.

More arrested people are likely to approach the court seeking statutory bail if there is further delay in filing the charge sheets, police sources said.

However, Kerala High Court recently expressed satisfaction with the progress of the investigation and said an in-depth probe was underway.