The Vigilance Court in Kollam on Friday rejected the bail plea of former Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) president A Padmakumar, who is under arrest for his alleged role in the Sabarimala temple gold loot case.
During the hearing of the bail plea, Padmakumar’s counsel argued that his custody was no longer required in the investigation and that the decision to allow moving the gold-plated sheets outside for maintenance was a collective decision taken by the board.
The prosecution vehemently objected to the plea stating that granting bail to the accused could jeopardize the probe in the case, and may also enable him to destroy evidence or influence witnesses in the case.
The prosecution argued that there was sufficient evidence to prove his involvement in the gold heist at the Sabarimala temple. Following this, the court turned down the bail plea of Padmakumar.
A former MLA from Konni and CPM Pathanamthitta district committee member, Padmakumar was arrested on November 20 by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) in connection with the theft of gold from the door frames of the sanctum sanctorum. He is the eighth accused in the case.
Although Padmakumar maintained that he was not the TDB president when the gold-clad plates were handed over to the main accused Unnikrishnan Potty, the probe team is of the view that the proposal was processed during his tenure.
According to the SIT, Padmakumar had recorded the gold-plated copper sheets of the dwarapalaka idols and the door frames as copper in official records. It had also claimed that the prime accused Unnikrishnan Potty shared close ties with Padmakumar.
The SIT has so far arrested six people, including former TDB presidents A Padmakumar and N Vasu, former Sabarimala administrative officer Murari Babu, former executive officer Sudheesh Kumar, middleman Potty and former Thiruvabharana Commissioner K S Biju.