THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Former Travancore Devaswom Board President A Padmakumar has been granted bail by the Kollam Vigilance court in the second case pertaining to Sabarimala gold theft.
The statutory bail was granted in the dwarapalaka idol case after the SIT failed to submit the chargesheet within the mandated 90 days.
Padmakumar was earlier granted statutory bail in the door frames case. However, he has to remain in prison as he was yet to get bail in the second case
Padmakumar was arrested by the SIT for allegedly fabricating the TDB documents to show that the gilded sheets of the dwarapalaka idols and the door frames were mere copper sheets.
The SIT had alleged that Padmakumar conspired with the rest of the accused to move away the artefacts out of Sabarimala shrine under the pretext of conducting maintenance works and resulted in misappropriation of gold.