The Kollam Vigilance Court on Thursday granted statutory bail to former Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) Thiruvabharanam Commissioner K S Baiju in one of the cases related to the gold heist from the Sabarimala temple, as the Special Investigation Team (SIT) failed to file its charge sheet within the stipulated 90 days of his arrest.
The court granted bail to Baiju in the case related to the alleged gold loss from the doorframes of the Sreekovil (sanctum sanctorum). However, Baiju, the fourth accused in the Sreekovil door frame case, will remain in jail, as he is also the seventh accused in the case related to the loss of gold from the Dwarapalaka (guardian deity) plates in which the court has not granted bail to him.
KS Baiju is the sixth accused in the case, who has been granted statutory bail as the SIT did not file a charge sheet within the stipulated period. Five of the accused – Unnikrishnan Potty , Murari S Babu, S Sreekumar, Sudheesh Kumar and N Vasu – were earlier granted bail by the court.
Meanwhile, the SIT probing the case, reached the hill shrine on Thursday as part of fresh sample collection for scientific analysis.
A team, led by SP S Sasidharan, arrived in Sannidhanam by afternoon and will collect fresh samples for scientific analysis after the temple closes for the day following various poojas at the Sannidhanam,as permitted by the Kerala High Court on Monday.