‘Gold robbers of Sabarimala will be jailed, no dependency to Centre'; Minister Vasavan expresses stand on controversies

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Devaswom Minister V N Vasavan said that he is happy with the search of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) in connection with the gold theft in Sabarimala. He said the state government's stand on the controversial issue has not changed so far. The minister added that those who stole the gold from Sabarimala will be jailed soon.

‘The government's initial response on this issue was that those who stole the gold from Sabarimala will be sent to jail and the yellow metal will be brought to Sabarimala. The case is being investigated by the most efficient police team in Kerala under the supervision of the Kerala High Court. Their investigation is going on at a fast pace. Unnikrishnan Potty, one of the sponsors, was arrested in the first phase itself and later former administration officer Murari Babu was arrested.

The gold has been recovered from Bellary in Karnataka. Whoever the thieves are, they will be sent to jail and imprisoned. The authorities themselves have clarified that the news related to the loss of valuables in the Guruvayur temple is fake. The Guruvayur Devaswom Board had released statements related to this yesterday,' the minister said.

The minister also responded to CPI's criticism of the government signing central government's PM Shri project. Vasavan said the state government has not shown dependency to the centre. Earlier, when there was a proposal to exclude things about Gandhiji from the curriculum, ours was the government that took a stand that it would not do so. The Kerala government has not supported many of the educational reforms proposed by the centre. Therefore, our stand is that the funds that should be received by the children of Kerala should not be denied. It is not dependency to the center. The education minister had clarified this matter the other day, added the minister.