No irregularities in reconstruction of Sabarimala flagpole, says vigilance, HC closes case

KOCHI: The Kerala High Court has closed the case after the vigilance submitted its quick investigation report related to the irregularities in the reconstruction of the Sabarimala flagpole. The vigilance informed the court that there was no evidence to file a case in the irregularities. The vigilance report had stated that the gold donated by devotees for the construction of the flagpole was used entirely for this purpose and there was no evidence of receiving gold without documents. The court decided to close the case after examining this.

412 grams of gold was received as donation for the construction of the flagpole. The entire gold was used for the construction of the vachivahana and ashtadik palakas. The vigilance also recorded the statements of 23 people, including the actors who donated. However, the details of four people could not be found, according to the report submitted by the vigilance.

The old flagpole in Sabarimala was replaced as per devaprashnam. The re-installation was conducted after devaprashnam found that the flagpole was illegally painted and was in disrepair. The crucial devaprashnam chart proving this had emerged. The coating process on top of the flagpole is considered bad. The chart also says that there are signs of deterioration. Therefore, the devaprashnam directed that the flagpole be replaced and a new wooden flagpole be installed.

The flagpole was reconstructed when the UDF government appointed the administrative committee with M P Govindan Nair as its president. The devaswom vigilance reported that irregularities had occurred in connection with the re-installation of the Sabarimala flagpole. The high court directed the state vigilance chief to separately examine whether a case should be registered in this regard.