Sabarimala gold loss: Kerala HC denies anticipatory bail to former TDB administrative officer

Kochi: The Kerala High Court on Thursday rejected the anticipatory bail plea of a former TDB administrative officer who is an accused in the cases related to alleged irregularities in gold plating of artefacts in the Lord Ayyappa shrine in Sabarimala.

Justice A Badharudeen declined to grant the relief to S Sreekumar, who has denied the allegations against him.

The detailed order of the court is not yet available.

Sreekumar served as the administrative officer of the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) in 2019 when the alleged irregularities had occurred.

A Special Investigation Team (SIT) appointed by the court is probing the cases involving gold lost from the gold-cladded plates of the Dwarapalaka (guardian deity) idols and the Sreekovil (sanctum sanctorum) door frames.

So far, the SIT has arrested six persons, including prime accused Unnikrishnan Potty and former TDB presidents N Vasu and A Padmakumar, in the two cases.