The Kerala High Court has rejected the bail plea of Pankaj Bhandari, CEO of Smart Creations, Chennai, in a case related to the alleged embezzlement of gold from the Sabarimala temple.
He was indicted as the ninth and 12th accused in the two cases filed in this regard. The managing director of the firm where the Dwarapalaka idols and door frames were taken for gold plating was accused by the SIT investigating the case of holding a secret meeting in Bengaluru after the case came up for hearing in the Supreme Court in October 2025. Others in the meeting reportedly included prime accused Unnikrishnan Potti and jeweler Govard of Bellari. They discussed the possible course of action if they were implicated in the case, which the SIT called an attempt to destroy evidence. All this was confirmed on the basis of their mobile phone records, the SIT said in its report.
Mr. Bhandari was arrested on December 19. He claimed that his arrest was against the norms prescribed by the Supreme Court and that none of his family members or friends were informed immediately after his arrest. The arrest was illegal as his fundamental and statutory rights as explained by the supreme court were violated. In addition, he was required to be presented with written reasons for his arrest at the time of his arrest in a case where documentary material was available to the police earlier, he added.
The government replied that written notices of the reasons for the arrest were given to him and Rajasekhar, his employee, well in advance as required by law, on the same day and about five hours before he was produced before the Investigating Commissioner and Special Magistrate, Kollam.
Court A. Badharudeen noted that the reasons for the arrest were communicated in a language (English) known to the accused – Mr. Bhandari. It is therefore not necessary to resubmit the detention report to inform the accused about the reasons for the detention. The only anomaly that could be discerned from the proceedings taken by the arresting officer is that he was produced the accused before the Special Court with a delay of about two hours, apparently for the time required for the medical examination and the journey from Thiruvananthapuram to Kollam (71 km).
The court added that this in itself is not a reason to declare the arrest illegal. The inconsistency argued by the petitioner is insufficient to declare the arrest illegal, and as a result, the petition would necessarily fail, he noted, and went on to deny his bail application.
Published – 13 Feb 2026 21:04 IST