Thiruvananthapuram: Police have said that BJP leader V G Giri Kumar is the key conspirator of Sandeepanada Giri's Ashram torching in 2018.
In the remand report, the police also revealed that the accused conspired to the crime as an act of vengeance over Sandeepanada Giri's stance to support the entry of women into Sabarimala temple.
“V G Giri Kumar had directed his accomplices that they should teach Sandeepanada Giri a lesson,” reads the remand report.
A Crime Branch team arrested BJP district general secretary Giri Kumar, who is also a corporation ward councilor of Thiruvananthapuram PTP Nagar, on Tuesday in the ashram torching case. He was the councilor of Valiyavila ward when the ashram was set on fire in 2018. The Crime Branch also arrested RSS leader Sabari S Nair (29) in the case.
The probe team claimed that Giri Kumar had plotted the crime and that Sabari was one of the two people who set the ashram on fire. Giri Kumar was arrested as per the information received from Sabari, said the officials.
Though the probe team failed to recover any significant pieces of evidence, it cracked the case after tracing the bike used by the criminals. The probe team found that the culprits had sold the bike after scrapping it. This information turned crucial in cracking the case.
The CCTV visuals revealed that the attackers had travelled in a 2011 model 220CC motorbike. Though the probe team failed to trace the bike during the initial phase of the investigation, officers found out that the culprits had handed over the bike to a Vattiyoorkkavu native for scrapping it. This person told police that he purchased the bike for Rs 2,500.
While the probe was progressing, RSS activist Prakash, who is the first accused in the case, died by suicide.
A revelation by his brother became a turning point in the case after four years. Before ending his life, Prakash had disclosed to his sibling about his involvement in the ashram torching case.
