Sabarimala Gold Theft: Kerala High Court Denies Bail To Jeweller Roddam & Former Devaswom Board Officials

The Kerala High Court on Wednesday (January 21) denied bail to Jeweller Roddam Govardhanan and former Travancore Devaswom Board officials A. Padmakumar and Murari Babu, who are accused of misappropriating gold from the Dwarapalaka idols and door frames of the Sreekovil in Sabarimala.

Justice A. Badharudeen pronounced the order today in open court after reserving the verdict. A detailed order is awaited.

They are accused of the offences under Sections 403 [Dishonest misappropriation of property], 406 [Criminal breach of trust], 409 [Criminal breach of trust by public servant], 466 [Forgery of record of Court or of public register] and 467 [Forgery of valuable security] r/w Section 34 [Common intention] of the Indian Penal Code along with the offence under Section 13(1)(a) of the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Act, 2018 in the FIRs before the Crime Branch.

Background

A. Padmakumar was the former President of the Travancore Devaswom Board during the period between 2017-2019. He is arrayed as the 8th accused in the Sabarimala gold theft case, which is being investigated by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) constituted by the Division Bench of the High Court.

The prosecution allegation is that he conspired with the other accused in the misappropriation of gold from the doorframes of the Sabarimala temple while holding the afore public post. The specific allegation against Padmakumar is that he, as President, permitted to carry out the repair/re-plating works on the doorframes in contravention of the Maramath procedure and the Devaswom Manuals.

He was arrested in relation to the crime on November 20 and has been in custody since then. The Special Judge had dismissed his bail plea and he had come before the High Court.

In his bail plea, Govardhan has stated that he had no role in the misappropriation and that in June 2019, he had donated 184 grams of gold (valued at approximately 9 lakhs) to gold-plate the frame. An allegation is made in the bail plea that despite Govardhan's full cooperation since the inception of the investigation, the Special Investigation Team coerced him to give gold weighing 474.970 grams. 

Govardhan was arrested on December 19 and has been in custody since then. He directly moved the High Court seeking bail in both the cases.

The specific allegation against Babu is that he, while working as Administrative Officer, mischaracterised the gold cladded idols and pillars as copper plates and filed a recommendation to the thantri for gold plating them, which action led to the removal and handing over of these to the prime accused, Unnikrishnan Potti.

He was arrested on October 23 in relation to the crimes and has been in judicial custody since then. His earlier bail applications were dismissed by the High Court and this was his second time approaching the High Court.

The bail applications of Padmakumar are moved by Senior Advocate Vijaya Bhanu and Advocates Sruthy N. Bhat, P.M. Rafiq, M. Revikrishnan, Ajeesh K. Sasi, Sruthy K.K., K. Aravind Menon, Aaron Zacharias Benny, Nanditha S. and Govind G. Nair.

The bail applications of Roddam Govardhanan are moved by Senior Advocate Vijaya Bhanu and Advocates Thomas Anakkallunkal, Anupa Anna Jose Kandoth, Jayaraman S., Dhanya Sunny and Ann Milka George.

The bail application of Murari Babu are moved by Advocates S. Rajeev, V. Vinay, M.S. Aneer, Sarath K.P., Anilkumar C.R., K.S. Kiran Krishnan, Dipa V., Akash Cherian Thomas, Azad Sunil, Maheswar P., T.P. Aravind, and Akshara S.

Case Nos: Bail Appl. 14662/2025 and Bail Appl. 172/ 2026, Bail Appl. 14761/2025 and Bail Appl. 14762/2025 & Bail Appl. 148/ 2026 and Bail Appl. 149/ 2026

Case Title: Roddam Pandurangaiah Naga Govardhan v. State of Kerala, A. Padmakumar v. State of Kerala, B. Murari Babu v. State of Kerala

Citation: 2026 LiveLaw (Ker) 41