The Supreme Court on Monday declined to intervene in a petition filed by former Travancore Devaswom Board member K.P. Shankar Das in the Sabarimala gold theft case.
“You didn't even spare God,” remarked the bench of Justices Dipankar Datta and Satish Chandra Sharma as it dismissed Das’s plea, which sought the removal of adverse remarks made against him by the Kerala High Court.
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The top court noted that, as a board member, Das was also accountable for the alleged gold theft at the famous hill shrine.
Das, in his plea, had sought the deletion of five paragraphs from the High Court order, which stated that he, along with K. Vijayakumar, could not escape criminal conspiracy charges.
At least 10 people, including two former TDB presidents, have been arrested so far by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) as part of its probe into the theft of gold from the Dwarapalaka (guardian deity) idols and the Sreekovil doorframes at the temple.
The SIT was constituted following the directions of the high court, which last month granted the team an additional six months to complete its investigation.
Meanwhile, the political slugfest over the case intensified in Kerala, with Leader of Opposition V.D. Satheesan accusing the Chief Minister's Office of interfering to exert pressure on the SIT to delay the investigation.
The probe team had recently questioned former Devaswom Minister and senior CPI(M) legislator Kadakampally Surendran, and former TDB president P.S. Prasanth.
The opposition alleged that the SIT kept Surendran's questioning secret at the government's behest, as the CPI(M) sought to avoid political damage ahead of the local body polls.
