A Kollam court on Friday (February 20, 2026) granted statutory bail to former Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) president and CPI(M) leader A. Padmakumar in one of the Sabarimala gold loss cases.
Kollam Vigilance Court Judge Mohit CS granted bail to Mr. Padmakumar in the case related to the alleged loss of gold from the Sreekovil doorframe (sanctum sanctorum), after the Special Investigation Team (SIT) failed to file a chargesheet within 90 days of his arrest.
However, Mr. Padmakumar will not be released from jail as he is yet to get bail in a case related to the alleged loss of gold from the Dwarapalaka (guardian deity) plates.
Mr. Padmakumar, the eighth accused in the Sreekovil door frame case, is a former CPI(M) MLA and was serving as the TDB president when the decision was taken in 2019 to hand over the Sabarimala artefacts to the main accused Unnikrishnan Potti.
Recently, the SIT informed the Kerala High Court that the chargesheets in the two cases would be filed by March 31.
Mr. Padmakumar, who is the 11th accused in the Dwarapalaka gold loss case, will be eligible for statutory bail in the next two weeks, police sources said.
Published – 20 Feb 2026 14:26 IST