Tantri Kandararu Rajeevaru arrested in Sabarimala theft case, brought to crime branch office

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The SIT has arrested Tantri Kandararu Rajeevaru in the Sabarimala gold theft case. His arrest was recorded at 2.30 pm today and brought to the crime branch office. The investigation team got information that it was Tantri who brought Unnikrishnan Potty, the main accused in the case, to Sabarimala. The employees in Sabarimala have given statement against the Tantri. The employees’ said Tantri is behind Potty's influence. The investigation team has also found that Tantri paved the way for Potty as sponsor.

The investigation team has found that the Tantri is drawing salary from the devaswom board and falls under the ambit of the Prevention of Corruption Act. The investigation

team also got information that the Tantri knew about the gold theft committed by Unnikrishnan Potty. The report says three of the consents given by the Tantri are doubtful.

The Tantri was summoned by the special investigation team for the past two days, but the tantri had evaded the probe citing health issues. Questions had already been raised about how the Prevention of Corruption Act would be imposed against him. The investigation team was collecting evidence in this regard. The interrogation was conducted at a secret centre under the leadership of SP Sasidharan from this morning. The Tantri knew Unnikrishnan had committed the theft. Devaswom board president and CPM leader A Padmakumar had repeatedly said during the interrogation that God like people are also behind this. The investigation team had doubts about whether it was Kadakampally Surendran or tantri.

Meantime, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has registered a case after confirming the existence of black money transaction in the Sabarimala gold theft. The Kollam Vigilance Court had ordered the transfer of all the evidence collected by the Special Investigation Team in connection with this investigation to the ED. After examining these documents and obtaining permission from the Directorate, the ED has now registered a case in the transaction.