Attempt to derail probe in Sabarimala gold theft; CBI inquiry needed, says Ramesh Chennithala

Thiruvananthapuram: Senior Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala has alleged that the Special Investigation Team (SIT) has failed to trace the gold missing from Sabarimala and that the Chief Minister’s Office is intervening to derail the investigation.

He said the investigating team has so far been unable to answer the basic question of where the stolen gold from Sabarimala is. It was not just the 300 grams of gold belonging to jeweller Govardhan that went missing, Chennithala pointed out.

He added that an expatriate businessman has provided certain leads related to the incident, and that the truth would emerge only if a proper and thorough investigation is conducted.

According to Chennithala, the Chief Minister’s Office has been making unnecessary interventions in the functioning of the SIT over the past few days. The fact that office-bearers of a police association aligned with the CPM were deliberately included in the investigation team was suspicious, he opined. Under such circumstances, he said, only a court-monitored CBI inquiry would be capable of bringing out the truth.

UDF set to win assembly elections

Chennithala also claimed that the public has already made up its mind that the UDF will return to power in the forthcoming elections. He said that it was only after it became clear that the UDF would win 100 seats that Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan began claiming his party would secure 110 seats.

He defended Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan’s visit to the headquarters of the Syro-Malabar Church to meet church leaders, saying there was nothing wrong in meeting clergy during the Synod. Chennithala added that both he and former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy had made similar visits in the past.