The Kerala High Court has called for expeditious steps to ensure that the trial in the Sabarimala gold theft case commences without delay. The direction came as the Special Investigation Team (SIT) placed its investigation progress report before the Court, detailing the steps taken towards filing the final report. The draft charges have been approved by the Assistant Legal Advisor, and the SIT has sought mandatory prosecution sanctions against 10 of the 13 accused under the Prevention of Corruption Act before filing the final report before the jurisdictional court.
The SIT said prosecution sanction under Section 19(1)(c) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, was required for 10 accused who are public servants. Requests seeking sanction have been submitted to the Secretary, Revenue (Devaswom) Department, for four accused and to the Travancore Devaswom Board for six others.
The final report is accompanied by a list of 285 documents and 12 material objects. The SIT submitted before the bench of Justice Raja Vijayaraghavan V. and Justice K.V. Jayakumar that it would file the report before the jurisdictional court upon receiving the requisite prosecution sanctions.
Taking note of the submissions, the Bench said the matter should be expedited so that trial proceedings could commence without further delay. The case was posted for further consideration on December 2, 2026.
