Kerala HC stays trial court remarks in Sabarimala gold theft case, issues notice to Thantri

The Kerala High Court on Tuesday stayed the remarks made by the Vigilance Court, Kollam, in its order granting bail to Thantri Kandararu Rajeevaru in connection with the alleged gold theft from the Sabarimala temple.

The order came on an appeal filed by the Special Investigation Team (SIT), seeking cancellation of the bail granted to the Thantri and the quashing of the vigilance court’s observations made while granting relief to Rajeevaru.

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A single bench of Justice A. Badharudeen also issued notice to Thantri Rajeevaru, seeking his response to the SIT’s appeal.

The Special Investigation Team (SIT), which is probing the Sabarimala temple gold heist, had on Friday approached the Kerala High Court seeking cancellation of bail granted to Thantri Kandararu Rajeevaru, an accused in the case.

The plea also seeks to expunge the adverse remarks made by the Special Judge against the investigation team, terming them “unwarranted and prejudicial to the investigation.”

According to the SIT, the investigation revealed that the Thantri had illegally invested crores of rupees with a private firm. The probe is continuing to unearth more facts regarding his alleged illegal enrichment. The SIT also stated that there is ample evidence on record showing the direct involvement of the Thantri along with other prime accused persons.

“There was a wide conspiracy and misappropriation of a huge quantity of gold from the artefacts adorned in and around the sanctum sanctorum of the Sabarimala Sreekovil, with his full knowledge and connivance, which ultimately resulted in a huge loss to the Sabarimala temple,” the petition stated.

In its appeal, the SIT argued that it has several witness statements to support its claim that the Thantri and Unnikrishnan Potti were closely associated.

“There are a good number of witnesses who have given statements proving the illegal contacts and connection between the respondent (Rajeevaru) and A1 (Potti). The learned Special Court failed to consider the oral and documentary evidence. Therefore, the findings arrived at by the learned Special Court are unwarranted and untenable,” the SIT contended.

The Kollam Vigilance Court, on February 18, granted bail to Thantri Rajeevaru in connection with cases involving the misappropriation of gold from the temple’s Dwarapalaka (guardian deity) sculptures and the Kattilappali (door frame). The court observed that the prosecution could not prove that Thantri had a direct connection with Unnikrishnan Potti, the prime accused in the case.

The Special Investigation Team (SIT) arrested Thantri Kandararu Rajeevaru on January 9.