Sabarimala gold theft: Kerala High Court dismisses Smart Creations CEO's plea against arrest

The Kerala High Court on Friday dismissed a petition filed by Smart Creations owner Pankaj Bhandari challenging his arrest in connection with the Sabarimala gold misappropriation case [Pankaj Bhandari v State of Kerala & anr].

Justice A Badharudeen dismissed Bhandari's petition which claimed that the arrest was illegal and did not follow the procedure prescribed by law including furnishing grounds of arrest.

The case pertains to allegations that gold went missing from the gold-plated coverings of the Dwarapalaka idols and the door frames to the sanctum of the Sabarimala temple.

The gold is said to have gone missing after certain repair works were conducted under the sponsorship of one Unnikrishnan Potti at Smart Creations, the Chennai based private firm. 

It has been alleged that Potti along with Bhandari had planned a criminal conspiracy to misappropriate the gold cladding affixed to the copper plates of the Sabarimala temple structures.

Several kilograms of gold were found to be missing when the plates were measured after repair work, and later, some of the gold was allegedly recovered by the authorities from Potti's sister's house.

An SIT was constituted to probe the matter on the directions of the Kerala High Court.

Bhandari was arraigned as accused in the two first information reports (FIRs) registered by the Crime Branch in Thiruvanathapuram under various provisions of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) including Sections 403 (dishonest misappropriation), 406 (criminal breach of trust), 409 (criminal breach of trust by public servant), 466 and 467 (forgery), along with Section 13(2) read with 13(1)(a) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.

Bhandari in his plea stated that his arrest by the SIT violated his fundamental rights and statutory safeguard governing arrest and remand.

He contended that he had been fully cooperating with the investigators since September 2025, where he voluntarily appeared before the SIT multiple times, furnished travel documents submitted invoices and even handed over 109.243 grams of gold recovered during a search at his Chennai office.

The search he said was conducted with his cooperation and the gold was voluntarily produced before the authorities.

Despite this, Bhandari alleged that he was summoned to the SIT's office on December 19, 2025, where he was taken into custody and was subsequently arrested.

He stated that his arrest was without any justification, without any proper communication of grounds of arrest and without timely access to a legal counsel.

"The grounds of arrest contain no grounds or reasons of arrest whatsoever and simply state that "your arrest in this case is inevitable". There is not even a whisper as to why the arrest of the petitioner was required or necessary," the petition said.

He also submitted that the remand application and proceedings were in Malayalam, a language unfamiliar to him, as he is a Tamil speaker, further depriving him of a fair hearing and argued that this directly violated Article 22(1) (fundamental safeguards to any person arrested/detained) of the Indian Constitution.

Thus, Bhandari approached the Court seeking to quash his arrest and remand orders and a declaration that his arrest was illegal.

The State, however, maintained that all requirements were complied with and that the arrest was carried out in accordance with law.

After considering the submissions, the Court today rejected Bhandari's plea.

Senior counsel B Raman Pillai along with advocates S Vishnu, VS Viswambharan, Naik Chirag Dhananjay, Mathrawala Noopur Vishal, Mahesh Bhanu S, R Anil, Sujesh Menon VB and Lilin Lal appeared for Bhandari.

Additional Director General of Prosecution Gracious Kuriakose represented the State.

The Enforcement Directorate is also conducting a money laundering probe in connection with the case.

A detailed copy of the order is awaited.