Key Highlights
- Badharudeen, while rejecting the pleas, held that the accused could not evade responsibility at this stage of the investigation, given the gravity of the charges and the nature of the evidence placed before the court.
- Apart from Padmakumar, bail was denied to B.
- Murari Babu, former Devaswom administrative officer, and Roddam Pandurangaiah Naga Govardhan, a jeweller based in Karnataka.
- All three are accused of conspiring to misappropriate gold removed from the ‘Dwarapalaka’ idols and gold-plated structures inside the sanctum sanctorum of the Sabarimala Ayyappa Temple during renovation and gold-plating works.
- The prosecution informed the court that large quantities of gold entrusted for temple purposes were allegedly diverted, causing substantial loss to the shrine.
