Sabarimala gold theft; N Vasu produced in vigilance court, protests BJP

KOLLAM: N Vasu, former devaswom board president, arrested in the Sabarimala gold theft case, was produced at the Kollam Vigilance Court. He was brought without being handcuffed. He was produced in the court to extend his custody tenure. Meanwhile, BJP workers protested outside the court. The workers protested by raising slogans against Vasu.

The special investigation team found that when Vasu was the devaswom commissioner, the gold was recorded as copper. Murari Babu and Sudheesh Kumar, who were arrested earlier in the case, had given their statements that they did everything with Vasu’s knowledge. Vasu was arrested after this. Vasu was the former president of the Travancore Devaswom Board and a two-time devaswom commissioner.

The letter sent to the board by the executive officer on February 16, 2019, stated that the door frame to be handed over to Unnikrishnan Potty was gold-plated. This was corrected and made into copper layers, which got Vasu into trouble. The special investigation team found that Vasu played a crucial role in the conspiracy to hand over the gold-plated slab to Potty in the name of copper.

The board decided to hand over the gold-plated sheets to Potty on the recommendation of Vasu. The board meeting on March 19 decided to hand over the sheets to Potty after approving a letter from Vasu on February 26, 2019. It was discovered that the gold sheets in Sabarimala were first mentioned as copper in a letter sent by N Vasu, who was the then devaswom commissioner, for the board's approval.