Accepts gold in violation of rules for making of flag mast in Sabarimala; ASP Kurup under scanner

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: It has been found that former Advocate Commissioner ASP Kurup committed a serious violation of rules in accepting gold for the construction of the flag mast in Sabarimala. The devaswom vigilance has found that Kurup accepted gold from devotees despite the board delegating the task to an executive officer.

It was also found that the details of those who gave gold were not recorded correctly in the records. The rule is that if gold is received, the information should be recorded in the 3A register. However, it was found that the name of the devotee was not recorded correctly and, in many places, it was mentioned as a devotee. The report submitted by the devaswom vigilance to the high court contains serious remarks against Kurup.

9573.01 grams of gold was received. Of this, 9340.200 grams of gold was used for the construction of the flag mast. The report states that the remaining gold was used for the construction of the dome. The report was prepared after the SIT and devaswom vigilance recorded Kurup's statement.

The devaswom vigilance report stated that gold and money may have been misused in the name of installing the flagpole. The devaswom bench, comprising Justices V Raja Vijayaraghavan and K V Jayakumar, has directed the vigilance director to appoint a team of competent officers for a preliminary investigation to confirm the crime.

Devaswom records, mahasars and other evidence from 2016 should be seized and handed over to the vigilance director. The preliminary investigation report should be submitted to the court within 30 days. The matter will be considered on February 19. It has also been directed that SIT SP S Sasidharan and Devaswom Chief Vigilance and Security Officer V Sunil Kumar should appear in person on that day.