Sabarimala gold theft was a joint venture of tanthri and ex-devaswom minister, says KPCC chief Sunny Joseph

Kannur/ Kozhikode: On the day the special investigation team (SIT) probing the Sabarimala gold scam arrested the temple's tanthri Kandararu Rajeevaru, KPCC president Sunny Joseph on Friday alleged that the gold theft was a joint venture of the tanthri and former devaswom minister Kadakampally Surendran. Meanwhile, AICC general secretary K C Venugopal said that the SIT's probe has not yet reached the names discussed in public. Joseph said that the SIT investigation was not totally satisfactory. "The probe should be extended to the ‘big guns'. The details of Kadakampally Surendran's interrogation should be revealed. Arrest of the tanthri can be seen as a development. However, the public wants to know what happened during Surendran's interrogation," Joseph said. "Surendran claimed that the SIT had not interrogated him but had just collected some information. My question is whether the SIT officers carried out an interview of the former minister. The people of Kerala need to know," Joseph said. Joseph added that people know who helped first accused Unnikrishnan Potti enter Sabarimala temple and loot the gold. "No theft could be carried out at Sabarimala temple without the knowledge of the devaswom board. Both devaswom president and devaswom minister were CPM leaders," he alleged. Joseph added that the SIT is delaying submission of the chargesheet to protect CPM leaders.