THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Former Travancore Devaswom Board President and Commissioner N Vasu, the third accused in the case pertaining to alleged theft of gold from the door frames of Sabarimala temple, was granted statutory bail by the Kollam Vigilance Court on Wednesday.
A CPM strongman, Vasu got bail after the SIT failed to file its chargesheet within the stipulated 90 days. Vasu was the Commissioner when the alleged offence took place in 2019. He was arrested on November 11, 2025.
Four of the accused - Unnikrishnan Potty, Murari S Babu, S Sreekumar and Sudheesh Kumar- were earlier granted bail by the court. The SIT had held Vasu responsible for intervening on behalf of Potty to handover him gilded copper sheets of the door frames. Vasu was accused of conspiracy and fabricating documents.
The SIT maintained that it was Vasu who mentioned gold-plated copper sheets as mere copper sheets in his correspondence to the board. It was on the basis of this communique that the board initiated measures to handover the gilded sheets from the artefacts to Potty under the guise of conducting maintenance work.