Kerala High Court Tells SIT To Examine Every Person's Role In Milma Ghee Supply Irregularities For Sabarimala

The Kerala High Court has directed the Special Investigation Team probing alleged irregularities in the procurement and supply of Milma ghee to Sabarimala to pursue all relevant leads and examine the involvement of every person who may have played a role, irrespective of official position or status. The direction came from a bench of Justices Raja Vijayaraghavan V and K V Jayakumar after it perused the SIT's report on the progress of the investigation. The Court said it was satisfied that the probe was proceeding in the proper direction.

According to the report as recorded by the bench, the SIT has identified the principal accused, and some of the accused have approached the High Court seeking anticipatory bail. The investigating team is also examining the possible involvement of other officers and employees of the Travancore Devaswom Board, and the roles of senior officials of the Board and Milma are being investigated in detail. Call data records and details of financial transactions for the relevant period have been obtained and are under examination.

The bench's expectation is framed in terms of reach and standard. It expects the agency to pursue every relevant lead without regard to the rank of the person involved, to conduct the investigation in a thorough and impartial manner, and to take it to its logical conclusion. The observation on progress is an assessment of the investigation so far and not a finding on the guilt of any person.

The case originates in an earlier direction of the High Court ordering a vigilance probe. On that occasion, the Court was of the prima facie view that materials gathered in the preliminary enquiry by the Chief Vigilance and Security Officer indicated the possibility of coordinated action involving certain members of the Travancore Devaswom Board and officials in the supply of ghee from Milma. It had also prima facie opined that this resulted in substantial financial loss to the Board and the possible supply of substandard ghee for preparing Aravana, the payasam made of jaggery and rice that is distributed as prasadam to devotees at the Lord Ayyappa temple. Those observations were prima facie at the time, and the Court has not recorded any final finding on the alleged supply of substandard ghee.