KOCHI: The Kerala High Court on Friday dismissed a plea filed by Pankaj Bhandari, CEO of Smart Creations, seeking to quash the FIR registered against him in the Sabarimala gold theft case.
According to the prosecution, Bhandari conspired with other accused, including prime accused Unnikrishnan Potty, to misappropriate gold from the Dwarapalaka idols and the doorframes of the Sreekovil at the Sabarimala Temple.
It is alleged that Potty transported the gold-clad items to Smart Creations, where the gold was stripped despite knowing that it belonged to the Travancore Devaswom Board. Bhandari was arrested on December 19 and has remained in custody since then.
In his petition, Bhandari contended that his arrest was unlawful and carried out without sufficient grounds. His counsel submitted that the grounds of arrest were not properly communicated either to Bhandari or to his relatives.
It was further argued that since Bhandari, a native of Tamil Nadu, does not understand Malayalam, furnishing him with a copy of the remand report in Malayalam alone was inadequate. Citing these lapses, the counsel sought the quashing of the FIR and his release.
Opposing the plea, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) maintained that Bhandari is a key accused in the case and should not be granted relief. After hearing both sides, the High Court held that there were no grounds to interfere at this stage and rejected the petition.
“The only anomaly that could be seen from the proceedings adopted by the arresting officer is that he failed to produce the accused before the Special Court, and the production was delayed for about two hours, obviously for the time taken for medical examination and travelling from Thiruvananthapuram to Kollam (71 km).
"Now, the question is whether the same itself is a ground to declare the arrest when all other formalities were complied with, as discussed. I do not think that the same by itself is a reason to declare the arrest as illegal,” the court observed.
Meanwhile, the SIT team that reached Sannidhanam on Thursday evening to collect samples from the Sreekovil as part of a scientific examination in connection with the case is conducting a detailed inquiry. The team, headed by SP S. Sasidharan, is currently at Sannidhanam for further investigation and evidence collection.
