SIT records Union Minister Suresh Gopi’s statement in Sabarimala flagmast installation case

The High Court-appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT) has reportedly recorded the statement of Union Minister Suresh Gopi to quantify the gold donated for the installation of a new gilded flagmast (Kodimaram) in front of the Sabarimala Ayyappa temple in 2017. 

Mr. Gopi was among 27 persons who donated gold and cash for the installation of the flagmast. Officials said actors Mohanlal and Renji Panicker, and film producer M. Renjith, were among the donors, and that the SIT would record their statements.

The High Court had ordered the SIT to probe the alleged irregularities in the construction of the flagmast. Advocate commissioners appointed by the High Court had earlier flagged discrepancies in the accounting for gold and cash collected from devotees, including 27 wealthy donors and some celebrities, for gold plating the flasgmast. 

Moreover, the then Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB), headed by Congress leader Prayar Gopalakrishnan, and backed by the temple’s priestly orthodoxy, had demanded a new flagmast based on the premise that the earlier one, made in concrete, had become “termite-infested”, inviting the “displeasure of the presiding deity.”

The High Court had also asked the SIT to probe how much gold was used in the construction of the Kodimaram and whether there was any element of misappropriation. 

Officials said the latest developments in the SIT probe were also linked to the seizure of the gold-plated horse idol (Vajivahanam) from the top of the old flagmast at the residence of the chief priest (Tantri), Kandararu Rajeevaru, at Chenganoor in January. The SIT had produced the artefact in the Vigilance court in Kollam, indicting the Tantri for unauthorised possession of public property. 

The SIT was also investigating the TDB’s 2017 decision to gift the Vajivahanam to the Tantri. Congress leader and former TDB member Ajay Tharayil has defended the decision. He had said the artefact removed from the old flagmast was the Tantri’s right. He also claimed that the High Court-appointed advocate commissioner had approved of the TDB’s.