1st accused released on bail in Sabarimala gold theft case, minister defends SIT probe

KErala parliamentary affairs government minister MB Rajesh on th defended the on-going sit around investigating and criticised the opposition UDF for “playing drama” over the the Sabarimala gold theft cases. This came as Unnikrishnan Potty, the first accused in the case, walked out of jail after receiving statutory bail in the case on the same day.As the UDF MLAs sat on the floor of the House raising slogans against the LDF government and demanding the resignation of temple affairs minister VN Vasavan, minister Rajesh hit back alleging that the opposition is “scared” that the SIT probe would expand to certain people in top positions.“The devaswom bench of the High Court has reposed faith in the SIT probe. The court has said that if the SIT files a charge sheet in haste, possibilities were high that the persons arraigned in the case would escape during the trial stage. The bench has said that no accused will go scot-free even if they get statutory bail,” Rajesh said, alluding to Potty’s release on bail.“The opposition leader thinks that he is above the court. The opposition wants the real accused to escape. They know that the probe will expand to certain people who have been proved to have connections with Potty. Didn’t Potty first emerge in Sabarimala when Congress leader Prayar Gopalakrishnan was the head of the TDB? Unfortunately, he has passed away. The opposition is playing drama because they don’t have real issues to raise,” the minister added.At the same time, Leader of the Opposition VD Satheesan alleged that there has been a conspiracy behind the delay in the filing of the charge sheet.“The gold-cladded sheets covering the Dwarapalaka idols have been sold for crores. But the stolen gold has not been recovered yet. Evidence has not been collected either. In this situation, when the accused come out, the evidence will get destroyed. Accused CPM leaders will also come out. If the probe had gone in the right direction, even bigger CPM leaders would have been in jail today,” claimed Satheesan. He demanded that the courts intervene to speed up the pace of the SIT investigation.Potty, the priest-turned-real estate businessman who is accused of pilfering gold from the Sabarimala temple assets, walked out of jail on Thursday after being granted bail by the Court of the Enquiry Commissioner and Special Judge, Kollam.He got statutory bail as the SIT failed to submit the charge sheet within 90 days.Kollam Vigilance Court Judge Mohit C S granted bail to Potty in the case of misappropriation of gold from the door frames of the sanctum sanctorum.The court imposed conditions, including execution of a bond with two solvent sureties for ₹ 2 lakh each, a direction not to enter Pathanamthitta district, a direction to refrain from influencing witnesses or tampering with evidence, and an obligation to appear before the investigation officer whenever summoned.In the case registered in connection with the ‘dwarapalaka’ idols, he had gotten bail in January. Potty was the first to be arrested in the case last October.Meanwhile, the court extended the remand of Tantri (chief priest) Kandararu Rajeevaru, who was produced through video conferencing. He has filed a bail petition, to be considered on February 9.