Any documents to prove Sabarimala doorframes were gold-plated? High Court with criticism

KOCHI: The High Court said there exists only a testimony that says the doorframes at the Sabarimala sanctum sanctorum were gold. Neither the Travancore Devaswom Board nor the SIT were able to submit the necessary documents to prove the veracity that the doorframes of the shrine were covered with gold in 1998. The court raised the criticism while considering the bail plea of ​​former Devaswom Board Commissioner N. Vasu.

The government submitted only the statement of CEO Pankaj Bhandari of Smart Creations, who said that the gold was extracted from doorframes. The court asked for other documents and questioned how the case would stand without the necessary documents. Although the court mentioned only doorframes in the FIR, the government raised the argument that it also included Shivarupam, Archa, Vyāla, Rashi plate and Dashavatara. However, the High Court clarified that no report related to this was submitted to the Magistrate Court or the Vigilance Court and that, according to the current FIR, the doorframe remained the main issue.

Meanwhile, N. Vasu's lawyer clarified in the court that nowhere in the Devaswom records does it say that the doorframes were previously covered in gold. Vasu is serving a jail sentence for allegedly passing off the gold-covered doorframes as copper and giving them to Unnikrishnan Potty to be plated with gold.