The Supreme Court has given a big blow to former Devaswom Board member KP Shankar Das in the case of gold theft in Sabarimala temple. The Supreme Court on Monday (January 5, 2026) rejected the petition in which Shankar Das had sought deletion of the comments made against him in the order of the Kerala High Court.
The bench headed by Justice Dipankar said during the hearing that you did not even leave God. The court also made it clear that as a member of the Devaswom Board, Shankar Das has responsibilities and he cannot shirk his role in the theft case. However, the Supreme Court also made it clear that the Kerala High Court had shown leniency in its order only on the basis of Shankar Das’s age and health.
The Supreme Court justified the High Court’s comments and refused to remove them. In fact, the Kerala High Court had said in its order that KP Shankar Das and K Vijayakumar cannot escape criminal conspiracy in the case of theft of gold in Sabarimala temple. Shankar Das had approached the Supreme Court demanding removal of this comment of the High Court, but the Supreme Court refused to accept his arguments and rejected the appeal.
The news of theft of several kilos of gold and disappearance of some valuables from Sabarimala Lord Ayyappa temple emerged as the main issue. This gold was part of the coating on the Dwarpal statues donated by UB Group Chairman Vijay Mallya in 1998-99. After the intervention of Kerala High Court, a high level investigation was started in the matter.
After investigation N. Vasu and A. Padmakumar, a former president of the Travancore Devaswom Board and a senior leader of the Communist Party of India-Marxist, was arrested. These arrests confirmed the opposition’s stand that the temple administration was being used for personal gain by those close to the centers of power, leading to calls for a CBI investigation into a wider conspiracy. The Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the Sabarimala gold theft case has so far arrested many people including Vasu and Padmakumar.
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