The Vigilance Court, Kollam, will consider the plea for statutory bail filed by Unnikrishnan Potty, the key accused in the Sabarimala gold scam case, on Wednesday. He is accused of misappropriating gold from the Dwarapalaka idols of sanctum sanctorum, pillars and door frames of the Sabarimala temple. He was earlier granted bail in the case related to alleged theft of gold from the idols.

The new bail plea has been submitted in the case registered in connection with alleged pilferage of gold from the door frames. Three other accused in the case, Murari Babu, Sudeesh Kumar and S Sreekumar were granted bail by the court.

The Special Investigation Team probing the case has expedited steps to initiate steps to obtain prosecution sanction against nine of the accused in the case. The prosecution sanction has to be secured from the Devaswom board and the state government since the accused are government staff and employed with the Devaswom board. Sources said that the probe team is now focused on collating evidence ahead of filing charge-sheet. 

The SIT had visited Sabarimala temple in January to measure the surface area of two doors presently kept in the storeroom for the purpose of calculating the quantum of gold cladded on the door frames and Prabhamandalam plates. Samples from the gold-cladded plates of the doors were collected to carry out necessary measurements and assessments for quantifying the gold content. 

It is learnt that the SIT has also recorded detailed statements of the Scientific Officers of the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre who conducted the analysis, officers of the Forensic Science Laboratory, Thiruvananthapuram who participated in the seizure proceedings, and the technical team from Kochi, which carried out surface measurements, so as to scientifically determine the extent of gold allegedly misappropriated.

The HC had given permission to the SIT to collect the statements after the VSSC scientists submitted a chemical analysis report, which, according to the HC, indicated a systematic and methodical process by which the alleged offence appears to have been executed. 

The HC bench had observed that the analysis reports not only disclose the manner and modus operandi of the alleged tampering and substitution, but also provide critical evidentiary pointers for correlating past transactions with subsequent activities. According to sources, two reports have so far been received from the VSSC team. The progress report of the investigation will be communicated to the HC bench on February 9. 

The SIT has faced flak from the opposition saying that delay in filing charge-sheet led to many of the accused obtaining statutory bail. Sources, however, said that the team is now focused on putting together a chain of evidence and sequence of events to furnish a comprehensive charge-sheet. 

The HC single bench had made critical remarks regarding the recovery of gold. According to the prosecution, 4147 grams of gold were misappropriated in both crimes. The court observed that only 474.96 grams of gold were recovered from Govardhan, one of the accused in the case and that the probe does not say anything about the mode of investigation to recover the remaining gold.