Sabarimala gold heist: Satheesan claims Kerala govt protecting Vasu, TDB officials

Opposition leader V D Satheesan on Friday alleged that the Kerala government is trying to save former Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) president N Vasu, who is the third accused in the Sabarimala gold heist case.

Speaking to media here on Friday, Satheesan said that the SIT has reportedly found that it was N Vasu, who was the Devaswom Commissioner when the irregularities in the temple with regard to the gold plating of various artefacts took place, instructed the officials to write that the gold-plated layers on the Dwarapalaka sculptures at the Sabarimala shrine were made of copper.

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Satheesan alleged that the government is pressurizing the Special Investigation Team (SIT) to protect N Vasu and other TDB office-bearers from arrest

The Opposition leader reiterated his demand for the resignation of Devaswom Minister V N Vasavan and the dissolution of the current TDB, alleging that they were also complicit in allowing Bengaluru-based businessman Unnikrishnan Potty access to the temple gold-plated objects, including the Dwarapalaka sculpture, despite being aware of his antecedents.

He said that the High Court has observed that the gold theft cannot be an isolated incident and that it is a well-orchestrated conspiracy potentially involving TDB officials at various levels. He added that the High Court order indicates that what the opposition was saying till now was correct.

The Opposition leader said that Kollam Panmana native Venu , who died at the Thiruvananthapuram Government College Hospital on Wednesday without getting treatment, was a victim of the inadequacies in the state health department.

He said Venu was “the latest victim of the failure of the public health system” in Kerala . Satheesan claimed that Venu, who arrived at the medical college from Kollam following a heart attack, was not treated for over 24 hours and this was clear from the family’s reaction and an audio message the patient had recorded before his death.

He said that Venu’s death without getting treatment in the hospital was not an isolated incident, but one of many, including lack of medicines and equipment, that were being reported from government medical colleges and hospitals across the state. He demanded that state Health Minister Veena George should resign as the health system broke down after she took charge.

He asked as to why the government was unable to pay the medical services corporation and private companies for the medicines and surgical equipment procured from them, if the state was not in an economic crisis as claimed by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Finance Minister K N Balagopal.

Venu, a native of Panmana, Kollam, died on Wednesday at the government medical college hospital Thiruvananthapuram. Venu’s family alleges that even after six days of being admitted with a heart ailment , an angiogram was not performed. Venu’s voice message has also been released saying that if he died, it was due to the negligence of the Thiruvananthapuram Medical College Hospital authorities .The family has filed a complaint regarding this with the authorities.