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The Enforcement Directorate (ED) will register a case and initiate an investigation into the Sabarimala gold theft following directions from a vigilance court in Kollam, Kerala. The court on Friday ordered that all documents related to the case, including the FIR, remand reports and other connected records, be handed over to the ED, as per an IANS report.

The court dismissed objections raised by the Special Investigation Team (SIT), which had opposed sharing the materials and argued against a parallel probe. The ED had sought access to the records to investigate alleged money-laundering aspects of the case, stating that documents such as the FIR and remand reports were crucial to tracing financial transactions linked to the theft.

While the SIT said it had no objection to a probe into money-laundering, it argued that a separate investigation by the ED was unnecessary and could hinder efforts to identify more accused. The prosecution also submitted that a parallel probe might affect the ongoing investigation. However, the vigilance court rejected these arguments and directed that all records be handed over to the ED.

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In a related development, the Kerala High Court on Friday dismissed the bail pleas of former Travancore Devaswom Board president N. Vasu and former administrative officer Murari Babu, who are among the accused in the Sabarimala gold theft cases.

According to investigators, Vasu allegedly recorded the gold sheets affixed to the wooden planks of the sanctum sanctorum as copper sheets and recommended their removal. Murari Babu is charged with wrongfully documenting the gold sheets as copper, thereby paving the way for the theft to take place. Up until now, the arrests of seven individuals, among whom are six officers linked to the Travancore Devaswom Board and the main suspect Unnikrishnan Potti, have been made, and they are kept in custody.