THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The SIT probing the Sabarimala gold theft case on Saturday recorded the statement of former Devaswom Minister Kadakampally Surendran. Kadakampally was the Devaswom Minister when the alleged offence took place in 2019.
Sources said Kadakampally was asked about the sanction given by the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) to strip off gold-plated sheets from Sabarimala artefacts and transport them to Smart Creations Chennai for electroplating.
Kadakampally said that the Devaswom department only handled policy matters of the temple and the decision to strip off gold-plated sheets was taken independently by the board. He reckoned to have known the prime accused Unnikrishnan Potty but only as a sponsor.
Former TDB chiefs N Vasu and A Padmakumar, as well as board member N Vijayakumar have been arrested by the SIT.
The opposition parties have been critical of the government's handling of Sabarimala matters and accused it of indulging in corrupt practices.
Opposition Leader V D Satheesan had earlier alleged that Kadakampally knew the architects of Sabarimala gold theft.
Kadakampally had approached the court over the statement alleging that it was defamatory in nature and demanded an apology as well as compensation from the Congress leader.