THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The arrest of Sabarimala Tantri Kadararu Rajeevaru in the gold loss case triggered a fresh war of words in Kerala on Sunday with the opposition Congress alleging that the chief priest was “deliberately trapped” in the case, while the ruling CPM said he figured in a “list of big thieves”.
The recent observation by the Kollam Vigilance Court that there was no iota of evidence against Rajeevaru in the case led to fresh political debate in the state, with opposition parties targeting the state government. Senior Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala alleged that the Tantri was “deliberately trapped” in the gold loss case and suspected political intervention behind his arrest without evidence.
Addressing a press conference here, he claimed that the Special Investigation Team, probing the case, was controlled by the Chief Minister’s Office and Rajeevaru was arrested to prevent the investigation reaching some “big shots”.
Chennithala alleged that the SIT failed to comply with the directions issued by the Kerala High Court and did not conduct a proper probe into the alleged conspiracy behind the case. Though the tantri is a person who is revered as the father of Lord Ayyappa, he was arrested and jailed for 41 days without any evidence, he said.
The Kollam Vigilance court, which had granted bail to the tantri, clearly stated that there was no iota of evidence against him. “So, we should assume that the Sabarimala tantri was deliberately trapped in the case. It is clear that there was a political intervention to arrest the tantri,” he alleged.
He further alleged that though there was clear evidence to arrest certain “big shots”, no action has been taken so far in this regard.
CPM state secretary MV Govindan rejected the Congress allegations and asserted that no one involved in the matter would be protected. Responding to the allegations that the arrest of Rajeevaru was linked to his opposition to women’s entry at the hill shrine, Govindan said the tantri figures in the “list of big thieves” and asserted that no one involved in the matter would be protected.