Sabarimala Gold Theft: Kerala High Court Expresses Disinclination To Cancel Thantri Kandararu Rajeevaru's Bail

The Kerala High Court on Tuesday (26 May) orally remarked that it is not inclined to cancel the bail granted to Thanthri Kandararu Rajeevaru, who is arrayed as an accused in the Sabarimala Gold Theft case. 

Justice A. Badharudeen made the oral observation while considering the State's plea seeking to cancel the bail granted to Kandararu Rajeevaru. 

"I am not also inclined to cancel the bail." the Court said. 

The Court had earlier, stayed the observations made by the Special Court against the investigation of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) in the Sabarimala Gold Theft case. 

Rajeevaru was arrested by the Special Investigation Team in January and he was released after around 54 days in custody when the Court of the Enquiry Commissioner and Special Judge, Kollam granted him bail.

The allegation against Rajeevaru is that at the time of the alleged occurrence, he was the Chief Priest of the Sabarimala Temple and held ultimate authority in matters concerning rituals and religious sanctity of the temple. On 18.06.2019, he produced a typed opinion agreeing to proposal of re-plating the gold-cladded idols as suggested by Unnikrishnan Potty, the first accused and this decision formed the basis of the decision of the Travancore Devaswom Board to hand over the gold-cladded items.

Case Title: State of Kerala v. Kandararu Rajeevaru @ Rajeev T and connected case

Case No: Crl. MC 2455/ 2026 and connected case

Counsel for the Respondent: R. Anil, Sujesh Menon V.B, T. Anil Kumar, Thomas Sabu Vadakekut, Mahesh Bhanu S., Ressil Lonan, George Vinci Jose, Ananth Krishna K.S