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SIT gets custody of former TDB president Padmakumar in Sabarimala gold theft case
A Kollam court granted two-day custody of CPI(M) leader A Padmakumar to the SIT investigating gold theft at Sabarimala temple amid rising political tensions.
A Kollam court on Wednesday granted two-day custody of CPI(M) leader and former president of the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) A Padmakumar to the special investigation team (SIT) probing the pilferage of gold assets at the Sabarimala temple.
Padmakumar, also a former MLA from Konni, was produced before the Inquiry Commissioner and Special Vigilance Judge on Wednesday.
The eighth accused in the case filed by the SIT, Padmakumar was arrested on November 20 after hours of questioning and sent to judicial remand.
Padmakumar will now be questioned both separately and jointly with N Vasu, another former president of the TDB arrested in the case to unearth evidence of likely involvement of more TDB officials and even ministers in the then cabinet in the misappropriation of gold from the doors of the sanctum sanctorum and the gold-clad sheets covering the ‘Dwarapalaka’ idols.
Padmakumar is accused of consenting to the offer made by Unnikrishnan Potty, the first accused, to polish and renovate the gold-clad sheets covering the temple sculptures in 2019 back when the former was the president of the TDB. He also faces charges of wilfully misidentifying the gold-clad copper sheets merely as ‘copper sheets’, paving the way for the theft of gold from the panels.
It will now be seen if the SITwill be led to ex-temple affairs minister and senior CPI(M) leader Kadakampally Surendran. The opposition, including the Congress and the BJP, have pointed to the involvement of Surendran in the gold theft case.
Kandararu Mohanararu and Kandararu Rajevararu, the chief priests at Sabarimala, testified before the SIT on Wednesday in relation to their role in the movement of gold assets from the temple for repairs and renovations.
The SIT is learnt to have questioned them about their links with Unnikrishnan Potty, who had worked as a junior priest at Sabarimala years ago.
