Kerala govt 'hiding' Sabrimala gold theft incident, says KC Venugopal

Kannur (Kerala) [India], October 11 (ANI): Congress General Secretary (Organisation) KC Venugopal noted on Saturday that Sabarimala is a "sacred" temple for the people of the country and stated that the alleged Sabarimala gold theft incident suggests that the government of Kerala and the Devaswom Board are attempting to suppress the matter.
He demanded that a court-monitored Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) could expose the "real" miscreants involved in the incident. The Congress MP mentioned that the issue came to light following the intervention of the Kerala High Court.
"Sabarimala is a sacred temple for everyone in India. The incident reported from Sabarimala is painful for all of us. It is a clear indication that the government of Kerala and the Devaswom Board are trying to hide the incident. Only after the intervention of the Kerala High Court was this issue brought to light. Only a CBI enquiry under the supervision of the court can reveal the real culprits," Venugopal told ANI.
After the Kerala High Court directed the Special Investigation Team (SIT) to investigate the alleged Sabarimala gold theft incident, Devaswom Board Minister VN Vasavan said that a vigilance inquiry has found lapses at the official level and the government has faith in the judiciary.
"Everyone responsible for this incident must be exposed, and no culprit should escape justice. The government has full faith in the judiciary. What has taken place is nothing short of theft, and there can be no justification for it," Vasavan told reporters.
The court has directed that the investigation be completed and a report submitted within six weeks. The court said that the investigation should be kept strictly confidential. No information related to the investigation should be leaked. The division bench of the High Court has also directed, in an interim order, that the special investigation team submit a sealed cover directly to the court.
The court directed that the special investigation team should only inform the court about the investigation. The investigation information should not be disclosed to anyone else.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader V. Muraleedharan earlier launched a scathing attack on the Kerala government, stating that the state administration was betraying the trust of devotees and demanding the immediate dismissal of the Devaswom Minister, along with the dissolution of the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB).
"It is a clear indication of the fact that the High Court doesn't trust the Devaswom board and the government, because the court has said that it will do a criminal investigation. It's a clear indictment of the state government, nothing beyond that, nothing less than that. I don't understand how the Devaswom minister is still clinging to his chair and the Devaswom board president is still in position. Why does the government not dismiss the minister and dissolve the board? This has been our demand. Now the court has very clearly mentioned that there has been a robbery. It's daylight robbery," he said.
The controversy pertains to alleged irregularities in the gold plating work at the Sabarimala temple, which involved 30.3 kilograms of gold and 1,900 kilograms of copper donated by industrialist Vijay Mallya in 1998 for cladding the sanctum sanctorum and wooden carvings of the Sabarimala Ayyappa temple in Kerala. (ANI)