The Kerala High Court on Tuesday suspended some observations of a vigilance court when it gave bail to Sabarimala temple Tantri Kandararu Rajeevaru in regard to the alleged loss of gold cases. Justice A Badharudeen made the order when considering an appeal brought by the Special Investigation Team (SIT), which has also appealed the bail that has been awarded to Rajeevaru as well as the comments made by the lower court.
The High Court also sent a notice to the Tantri and requested him to respond to the appeal of the SIT. It was confirmed by the Director general of prosecution T A Shaji. The counsel of the SIT claimed that the findings of the vigilance court which said that there was not even a grain of evidence against Rajeevaru were unwarranted and would be a blow to the already underway investigation.
The case involves the supposed misappropriation of gold on the artefacts of temples with the presence of the Dwarapalaka idols and the Sreekovil door frames in the Sabarimala temple. In both cases, Rajeevaru has been an accused.
The SIT has insisted that the bail order and the observations to the same might result in a serious miscarriage of justice and may impede the subsequent investigation. It indicated as well that an earlier opinion expressed by Rajeevaru had been used to make decisions by Travancore Devaswom Board on the management of artefacts in the temples.