Sabarimala Gold Theft: Kerala High Court Denies Bail To Ex-Devaswom Board Officials

The Kerala High Court on Friday (December 19) dismissed the bail applications preferred by former Travancore Devaswom Board officials Murari Babu, N. Vasu, and K.S. Baiju who are arrayed in the cases relating to misappropriation of gold from Sabarimala temple.

Justice A. Badharudeen passed the order today. A detailed order is awaited.

Murari Babu is the former Administrative Officer of the TDB and was suspended from the post of Deputy Devaswom Commissioner when the crimes were registered by the Special Investigation Team.

He is accused in both the crimes registered by the Crime Branch regarding the theft of gold from the dwarapalaka idols and the sideframes/lintels of the Sreekovil in Sabarimala. He was arrested on October 23 in relation to the crimes and has been in judicial custody since then. His bail application before the Court of Enquiry Commissioner and Special Judge, Kollam was dismissed.

Baiju is arrayed in Sabarimala Gold theft cases relating to the misappropriation of gold from the dwarapalaka idols and sideframes of the Sabarimala temple, that is being investigated by the Special Investigation Team constituted by the Division Bench. He was a former Thiruvabharanam Commissioner of TDB.

Vasu had served in the TDB for two terms as Devaswom Commissioner and more recently, as President during 2019-2021. He had also formerly served as the Vigilance Tribunal Judge from 1991 to 2006. He is arrayed as the third accused in the crime relating to the misappropriation of gold from the door frames of Sabarimala temple.

After his arrest on November 11, Vasu had approached the Enquiry Commissioner and Special Judge seeking bail but his plea was dismissed.

All three are accused of the offences under Section 120B [Conspiracy], 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.

A detailed order is awaited.

Case Nos: Bail Appl. 14361/2025 and connected cases

Case Title: K.S Baiju v. State of Kerala and connected cases

Citation: 2025 LiveLaw (Ker) 833

Counsels for K.S. Baiju: P. Mohandas (Ernakulam), Sabu Pullan, R. Bhaskara Krishnan, Bharath Mohan, and K. Sudhinkumar.

Counsels for Vasu and Babu: 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.