High Court rejects bail plea of three including N Vasu in Sabarimala gold theft case

KOCHI: The Kerala High Court has rejected the bail pleas of the three accused in the Sabarimala gold theft case. Justice A Badaruddin rejected the bail pleas of former devaswom board president N Vasu, former administrative officer Murari Babu and former Thiruvabharanam commissioner K S Baiju. The details of the order have not been released.

The accused filed the bail plea in the case of providing necessary facilities for the gold theft of the Dwarpalaka idols and door frames in Sabarimala. The sessions court had earlier rejected their bail pleas. N Vasu is the third accused in the case of handing over the door frames of the shrine for gold plating under the pretext of copper plating. He was made an accused in the case after finding that commissioner N Vasu had given instructions to write that the gold plating of the door frames as copper.

Murari Babu is the second accused in the case of handing over the gold plating of the Dwarpalaka idols and the sixth accused in the handing over of the door frames of the shrine. K S Baiju is the seventh accused. Baiju was the Thiruvabharanam Commissioner at the time when the Mahasar was being prepared in 2019 and when the sheets were handed over to the first accused Unnikrishnan Potty. Murari Babu and Baiju had filed bail pleas in both the cases.

Meantime, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) will also register a case and investigate the gold theft in Sabarimala. The Kollam Vigilance Court has ordered that all documents related to the gold theft be handed over to the ED. The Special Investigation Team had opposed the ED conducting a parallel investigation in the case. The court has rejected this and ordered in its favor. The Special Investigation Team has been directed to hand over the remand reports and copies of the FIR of those arrested in the case to the ED.