Kollam, 21 Jan

A Kerala court on Wednesday granted bail to Bengaluru-based businessman Unnikrishnan Potty, the prime accused in the case related to the loss of gold from the Sreekovil (sanctum sanctorum) door frames of the Lord Ayyappa shrine at Sabarimala.

Potty, however, will continue to be in jail for now, as he has also been arrested in the case related to the loss of gold from the Dwarapalaka (guardian deity) idols of the temple.

He was given bail in the Sreekovil door frames case by a vigilance court here.

He had sought bail on the ground that the Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the cases had not filed a chargesheet despite the expiry of the mandatory 90-day period stipulated under the law.

The detailed order giving the reasons and conditions for the bail is not yet available.

The SIT has so far arrested 12 people, including Potty and two former Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) presidents in the two cases.