The Kerala High Court on Monday (October 26) directed the State Government to expedite the process of obtaining the legal advice required for seeking prosecution sanction in the Sabarimala gold theft cases, so that the Special Investigation Team (SIT) can submit its final report before the jurisdictional court without delay.

On October 7, the Court had set timelines to the Special Investigation Team probing the cases to request for prosecution sanction and to place the final reports. It had earlier perused the draft chargesheet submitted and took note of the fact that prosecution sanction is required in the cases since offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act are alleged.

Today, the Division Bench of Justice Raja Vijayaraghavan V. and Justice K.V. Jayakumar, while considering the suo motu petition initiated, interacted with P. Sasidharan IPS, who is the investigating officer heading the SIT.

The Court was told that the investigation in the doorframes case [Crime No. 3701 of 2025] has been completed and that the request for prosecution sanction has not been submitted. The reason for the same was that the legal advice of the Assistant Legal Advisor was not incorporated in the performa concerned since the said officer had not yet taken charge, it noted.

Director General of Prosecution T. Asaf Ali appearing for the State submitted before the Bench that all necessary steps would be taken to ensure that the Assistant Legal Advisor assumes charge and that the officer's legal advice is incorporated in the performa for requesting sanction as per Section 19(1)(c) of the PC Act.

Taking note of the submissions, the Court today ordered:

"In the aforesaid circumstances, we direct the concerned authorities to take all necessary steps to expedite the matter and ensure that the requisite legal advice is obtained without delay and the request for prosecution sanction is placed before the competent authority. The SIT shall ensure that, upon obtaining the requisite prosecution sanction, the final report is submitted before the jurisdictional court without any delay."

The Court further directed the SIT to complete the investigation in the Dwarapalaka idols case [Crime No. 3700 of 2025] as per the timelines fixed in its previous order, i.e., November 25.

The case is posted to November 10 (Tuesday) for further consideration.