SIT’s arrest of Sabarimala tanthri despite lack of evidence suspicious, says Ramesh Chennithala

T'puram: Former opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala said the special investigation team's (SIT) decision to arrest the Sabarimala tanthri and keep him in jail for 41 days, despite having no evidence, was suspicious.

"It appears the team acted on orders from the chief minister's office (CMO) without trying to pursue or arrest the real culprits of the Sabarimala gold heist," he said.


Even though the SIT opposed it, the Kollam vigilance court granted bail to Tanthri Kandararu Rajeevaru, clearly stating there was not a shred of evidence against him, Chennithala said. "This raised suspicions that the SIT deliberately trapped the tanthri. It seemed there was political interference in his arrest and the CMO controlled the SIT," he alleged.

The tanthri was arrested without evidence and jailed for 41 days to prevent the investigation from reaching former devaswom minister Kadakampally Surendran and current minister V N Vasavan, Chennithala alleged.

"The tanthri informed the court that his arrest was due to his opposition to women's entry to Sabarimala and the CM's directive to keep the temple open 365 days a year," the Congress leader said, adding that it was clear that the tanthri's arrest was entirely politically motivated, and the investigation was diverted away from the major players.

"CPM and CM's attempts to use Sabarimala for political gains will face strong backlash from the devotees and the public," Chennithala said.

"The high court provided clear directives to the SIT on Oct 21, 2025, and Nov 5 to arrest the major players responsible for the Sabarimala gold heist. But these orders were completely ignored. The interim order on Oct 21 detailed the need to investigate the criminal conspiracy behind the Sabarimala heist, stating that events from 2019 and the smuggling of dwarapalaka idols were part of a larger organized plan. HC outlined nine reasons for the conspiracy in the eighth clause of the judgment. But the SIT conducted no investigation in this direction," he said.

Chennithala added that the interim order on Nov 5 elaborated on the serious irregularities related to the gold plating of dwarapalaka idols in Sept 2025. These irregularities occurred when CPM representative P S Prasanth was Travancore Devaswom Board president. However, Prasanth was secretly questioned two times and then released, he said.

"It became apparent that the Sabarimala gold heist played a major role in CPM's defeat in the local body elections, leading to the SIT's investigation being completely sabotaged and redirected," Chennithala said.