Sabarimala gold loss case: SIT questions UDF convenor Adoor Prakash

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The SIT probing the Sabarimala gold loss cases is interrogating UDF convener and Congress MP Adoor Prakash, sources said on Saturday.

Prakash arrived at the Crime Branch office here in the morning after being issued a notice in this regard, police sources said.

The LDF has been raising allegations against Prakash after a photograph surfaced of him, along with prime accused Unnikrishnan Potty, meeting Congress leader Sonia Gandhi at her residence.

Responding to the allegations, Prakash said he had met Potty on multiple occasions and had attended programmes organised by him, but asserted that he had no connection with the Sabarimala gold loss case.

He maintained that Potty was a resident of his constituency and that he knew him as an Ayyappa devotee.

Earlier, the SIT had interrogated CPI(M) MLA and former Devaswom Minister Kadakampally Surendran in connection with the case.

AICC leader and Congress MP K C Venugopal told reporters that the SIT was free to interrogate anyone and that the law should take its course.

"The people of Kerala know who stole the gold from Sabarimala and who are protecting them. When these facts come out, attempts are being made to escape the shame," he said, adding that in the coming days it would be revealed that the LDF would fall into a trap.

The SIT, constituted following the directions of the Kerala High Court, is probing two cases related to gold lost from the Dwarapalaka (guardian deity) idols and doorframes of the sreekovil (sanctum sanctorum) at the hill shrine, and has so far arrested 12 persons, including two former Travancore Devaswom Board presidents associated with the CPI(M).

Meanwhile, Potty, who was released on statutory bail, is being interrogated at the SIT office in Thiruvananthapuram.

Police sources said he has been summoned to clarify his financial transactions and links with other accused persons in the case.