Gold heist case: HC adjourns state govt pleas against bail granted to Sabarimala tanthri

Kochi: High court on Tuesday adjourned to May 26 the petitions filed by the state govt seeking cancellation of the bail granted to Sabarimala tanthri Kandararu Rajeevaru, who is an accused in two cases relating to the alleged gold heist at Sabarimala temple.A bench of Justice A Badharudeen adjourned the matter to enable Rajeevaru to file objections to the petitions. HC also extended the interim orders staying the operation of the remarks made by the bail court, which had effectively given a clean chit to Rajeevaru while granting him bail in the cases. Rajeevaru was arrested on Jan 16 in connection with two cases involving the alleged misappropriation of gold from the gold-clad copper plate coverings of the dwarapalaka idols, as well as from the gold-clad encasings of the door frames of the main sreekovil and two ‘prabha mandalam' plates on top of the sreekovil door frame. He was subsequently granted bail on Feb 18 after spending nearly a month in custody. While granting bail, the Kollam special court observed that the allegation of criminal conspiracy against the tanthri was not supported by any prima facie material at that stage of the investigation. The court further noted that no evidence had been adduced by the special investigation team (SIT) to establish any direct nexus between the petitioner and the first accused, apart from a bald averment regarding a close relationship between them. Accordingly, the state govt has approached HC challenging the impugned order granting bail to Rajeevaru.