The Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the Sabarimala gold heist case on Friday arrested Pankaj Bhandari, CEO of Smart Creations Company, who extracted gold from the Dwarapalaka sculpture, and Govardhan, the owner of a jewellery shop in Bellary, who bought the stolen gold.
There are indications that the first accused in the case, Unnikrishnan Potti, and Pankaj Bhandari have close connections. The gold-plated Dwarapalaka sculpture smuggled from the Sabarimala temple was taken to Smart Creations in Chennai, and gold was extracted from there. The Special Investigation Team found that the extracted gold was sold to Govardhan through an intermediary named Kalpesh.
During the evidence collection in Bellary, the investigation team had found more than 800 grams of gold from Govardhan’s jewellery shop. After that, when the Thantri’s statement was taken, the Thantri said that he had a close relationship with Govardhan.
Pankaj Bhandari initially gave a false statement to the investigation team. He initially said that the gold plates were not delivered to his company and that copper-plated plates had been delivered.
Meanwhile, the Kerala High Court on Friday dismissed the bail pleas of three former officials of the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) who had been arraigned as accused in the alleged gold theft from the Sabarimala Ayyappa temple. A single bench of Justice A Badharudeen dismissed the pleas of Murari Babu, former TDB administrative officer; N Vasu, former president of the TDB; and KS Baiju, former Thiruvabharanam Commissioner.
While rejecting the bail plea of the three accused in the case, the High Court severely criticised the Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the case. The court criticised the delay and complacency shown by the investigation team in arresting some of the main accused. The court also directed that the investigation should be taken to the higher authorities. The court also asked the investigation team why former Devaswom Board members Shankardas and Vijayakumar were not made accused in the case.