Pranav B Prem

The Court of the Enquiry Commissioner and Special Judge, Kollam, on Wednesday (February 10) granted statutory bail to N. Vasu, former President and Commissioner of the Travancore Devaswom Board, in connection with the alleged misappropriation of gold from the door frames of the Sreekovil of the Sabarimala temple. Vasu has been arraigned as the third accused in the case. The order granting statutory bail was passed by Special Judge Mohit C.S., while a detailed order is yet to be issued.

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He had been arrested on November 11, 2025 and remained in custody thereafter. The bail was granted after the Special Investigation Team failed to file the final report within the statutory period of 90 days from the date of arrest. With this, Unnikrishnan Potty, N. Vasu and Murari Babu have now all secured statutory bail in the case. Earlier, the Special Judge had also granted statutory bail to the sixth accused in the Dwarapalaka idols case, S. Sreekumar, the former Administrative Officer of the Travancore Devaswom Board.

Vasu is facing charges under Sections 403, 406, 409, 466, 467, 120B read with Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code, along with Section 13(1)(a) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988. According to the prosecution, while serving as Devaswom Commissioner, he allegedly conspired with other accused persons and facilitated the removal of gold from the temple door frames.

The specific allegation against him is that he recommended the removal of the door frames by describing them as “copper plates” despite allegedly being aware that they were gold-cladded, thereby initiating the alleged pilferage. Vasu had earlier applied for bail before the Special Court, but the plea was rejected on December 3, 2025. He subsequently approached the High Court, which also declined to grant him bail.

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In a related development, the High Court, which has been monitoring the SIT investigation, recently ordered a vigilance probe into the alleged misappropriation of cash and gold connected to the replacement of the temple’s flag mast in 2017.

Case No: Crl.MP 105/2026