Coming down closely on the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB), the Kerala Excessive Courtroom on Monday requested what function the board performed, if all main tasks had been entrusted to businessman Unnikrishnan Potti, prime accused within the alleged misappropriation of gold from the Sabarimala temple.
A single Bench of Justice A. Badharudeen was listening to arguments by the prosecution that the gold plating of, amongst others, the door frames and that of the Dwarapalaka idols had been entrusted to him. The court docket puzzled why such essential works had been entrusted to a single particular person.
The court docket was listening to bail pleas of former TDB president A. Padmakumar, Bellary-based gold service provider Govardhan, and former government officer of Sabarimala Murari Babu arraigned as accused within the case.
Questioning the TDB function, the court docket requested, “Then what’s the responsibility of the Devaswom Board? It’s pretty much as good as having no Devaswom Board. That may be higher.”
The prosecution submitted that Mr. Padmakumar, whereas serving as president of the board, dedicated grave misconduct by intentionally making false entries in official correspondence that in the end led to the misappropriation of gold, inflicting irreparable monetary loss and harm to the board’s repute.
The SIT report reiterated that Mr. Padmakumar, regardless of realizing that the door frames (that had been taken for gold plating) had been gold-clad, made corrections in his personal handwriting (to painting them as copper clad).
Mr. Padmakumar contended that the corrections weren’t made intentionally and that the one allegation towards him pertained to violation of the Devaswom guide, which didn’t represent a penal offence.
To this, the court docket mentioned an individual meaning to commit against the law would do it intelligently, and requested why the State couldn’t enact a legislation titled the Kerala State Devaswom Properties Safety and Preservation Act. If such a legislation existed, acts of dereliction of responsibility would come underneath its ambit.
Mr. Govardhan mentioned he “had been in jail for 25 days though he spent ₹1.40 crore” (from his personal pocket) for various works in Sabarimala.
The SIT probing the case opposed the bail pleas, stating that their steady custody was wanted since that they had “a serious function to play” within the alleged misappropriation of gold from the temple. After listening to the arguments of all events, the court docket reserved its order on the bail pleas of the three individuals.
The Excessive Courtroom additionally flayed the SIT for not arresting KP Sankara Das, an accused within the case pertaining to the alleged misappropriation of gold from the Sabarimala temple. “An individual has been admitted to a hospital ever since he was arraigned as an accused within the case. His son is a Superintendent of Police. What is going on on this State? I fully disagree with the investigating officer,” the court docket mentioned.
Printed – January 13, 2026 05:46 am IST