Sabarimala gold heist | Court grants statutory bail to ex-TDB president A Padmakumar

Kollam: A court here on Friday granted statutory bail to former Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) president and CPI(M) leader A Padmakumar in one of the cases related to the Sabarimala gold loss incident.

Kollam Vigilance Court Judge Mohit CS granted bail to Padmakumar in the case pertaining to the alleged loss of gold from the doorframes of the Sreekovil (sanctum sanctorum), after the Special Investigation Team (SIT) failed to file the charge sheet within 90 days of his arrest.

However, Padmakumar will not be released from jail as he is yet to obtain bail in the case related to the alleged loss of gold from the Dwarapalaka (guardian deity) plates.

Padmakumar, the eighth accused in the Sreekovil doorframe case, is a former CPI(M) MLA and had served as TDB president when the decision was taken to hand over Sabarimala artefacts for replating to prime accused Unnikrishnan Potti in 2019.

Recently, the SIT had informed the Kerala High Court that the charge sheets in the two cases would be filed before March 31.

Padmakumar, who is the 11th accused in the Dwarapalaka gold loss case, will be eligible for statutory bail in the next two weeks, police sources said.

Several key persons, including Potti, Tantri Kandararu Rajeevaru and senior TDB officials, have already secured bail and been released from jail. PTI TBA TBA ROH