Jeweller Govardhan, Smart Creations CEO Bhandari get bail in Sabarimala gold theft case

The Kollam Vigilance Court on Thursday granted bail to the ninth accused, Pankaj Bhandari, CEO of Smart Creations, and the tenth accused, Roddam Pandurangaiah Naga Govardhan, owner of Roddam Jewellers, Bengaluru, in the Sabarimala gold misappropriation case. The bail was granted after the Special Investigation Team (SIT) failed to submit the charge-sheet on the stipulated time. The two are likely to be released today.

Bhandari and Govardhan were granted bail in two cases: alleged pilferage of gold from door frames and idols of the sanctum sanctorum. The Kollam Vigilance Court have granted bail to eight other accused. The HC recently issued a notice to Tantri Kandararu Rajeevaru after the SIT filed an appeal against the Vigilance Court order granting him bail. The court's remarks that there was no evidence against Tantri were stayed by the HC.

The probe team had arrested the duo in December 2025, after finding that Bhandari extracted gold from panels of the Dwarapalaka idols after taking them for electroplating work and later sold it to Govardhan. As part of the probe, the SIT conducted raids at Govardhan’s jewellery establishments on October 28, 2025, and also at the offices of Smart Creations in Chennai.

Investigators later found that Unnikrishnan Potty had met Bhandari and Govardhan in October 2025 while the case was under investigation. According to the statement of facts submitted by SIT Chief S Sasidharan before the High Court, the meeting was aimed at concealing the alleged crime committed in 2019.

The SIT also stated that Govardhan's claim of spending money on offerings and donations at the Sabarimala temple does not absolve him of the alleged offences. It noted that the donations were made from his bank account and not from the value of the extracted gold.

During the probe, the SIT found that gold was extracted from seven gold-clad copper panels at Smart Creations using a chemical process. The gold was later recovered from Bhandari and Govardhan. Bhandari handed over 109.243 gm of gold, which he claimed was taken as labour charges for gold plating. Govardhan produced 474.96 gm of gold, which he said he had received through an intermediary.

In early March, the court granted statutory bail to CPM leader and former Travancore Devaswom Board president A Padmakumar after the SIT failed to file the charge-sheet within the stipulated period in the case related to the alleged theft of gold from the Dwarapalaka idols. He had earlier secured statutory bail in the case involving the alleged misappropriation of gold from the temple door frames, in which he was first arrested. The fresh bail plea in the Dwarapalaka case was filed after 90 days of remand.