Kochi, Aug 5
The Kerala government has moved swiftly to constitute a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the alleged Sabarimala Milma ghee scam, submitting a list of officers to the Kerala High Court following the court’s direction for a comprehensive investigation.
The proposed SIT comprises five inspectors from the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau. Vigilance chief Manoj Abraham has also submitted the names of three Superintendents of Police — Juvanapudi Mahesh, M.J. Sojan and R. Binu — for supervising the investigation. The High Court will decide who will head the SIT.
The development comes amid fresh revelations of alleged large-scale irregularities in the procurement of supplies for Sabarimala’s main store.
A Devaswom Vigilance inquiry reportedly found irregularities in purchases made between 2017 and 2020, resulting in losses exceeding ₹10 lakh. The report has indicated the suspected involvement of officials, including the then main store superintendent, long-serving employees and suppliers.
The findings emerged during an inquiry into complaints against S. Manu, who served as main store superintendent during the period.
Investigators found that quantities exceeding five times the actual requirement were allegedly purchased for the main store, with some procurement purportedly made in the name of materials required for abhishekam rituals.
Surprise inspections conducted in 2020 also detected excess stocks of honey and ingredients used for preparing aravana prasadam. Questions have been raised over what happened to unused aravana ingredients, while investigators also found that unusually high quantities of damaged aravana packaging materials had been recorded.
The report said firms awarded supply contracts could also have played a role in the alleged irregularities.
Devaswom Vigilance has recommended a special audit of purchases and a detailed investigation into the procurement process in its report submitted to the Devaswom Ombudsman.
The fresh procurement allegations have surfaced amid scrutiny of the alleged irregularities surrounding the Milma ghee transactions at Sabarimala.
