Thiruvananthapuram: The Opposition UDF on Tuesday staged a protest in the Kerala Assembly, alleging inefficiency on the part of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the Sabarimala gold scam case. UDF legislators raised banners inside the house and later walked out, drawing sharp criticism from Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.

Speaking to reporters outside the Assembly after the walkout, Leader of the Opposition V D Satheesan alleged that the SIT probe had virtually come to a standstill. "The accused in the case are coming out of jail because the SIT failed to submit the charge sheet on time," he said.

Satheesan claimed that the investigation had made no tangible progress and announced that the UDF would intensify protests both inside and outside the Assembly to highlight what he termed the government's failure. He also pointed out that the High Court had criticised the SIT for not filing the charge sheet within the stipulated time.

"The Sabarimala gold scam occurred in 2019 when the CPM was in power and Kadakampally Surendran was the Devaswom Minister. The scam took place with the silent consent of government authorities," Satheesan alleged. He added that delays in filing the charge sheet had allowed accused CPM leaders and others to secure bail.

Responding to the allegations, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan rejected the opposition's charges and said the criticism of the SIT effectively applied to the High Court itself, which constituted the probe team. "A single bench of the High Court criticised the SIT. But who constituted the SIT? It was the High Court. The court is giving instructions to the SIT, and therefore the criticism is against the court, not the government," he said.

Vijayan further stated that certain observations made by the single bench were based on 'imaginations', and clarified that it was the division bench that issued directions to the SIT, a fact he said the single bench was also aware of.

Criticising the UDF protest inside the Assembly, the Chief Minister alleged that a legislator holding a banner had assaulted a watch-and-ward staff member. "Everyone has seen what happened. The person holding the banner used its stick to hit the guard. Such incidents have never occurred in the Assembly before," he said.

Industries Minister P Rajeev echoed the Chief Minister's criticism and accused the opposition of staging protests and walking out of the Assembly over an issue that, he said, had no direct involvement of the government.

"The High Court single bench, while considering the bail plea, criticised the SIT and not the government," Rajeev said.

He further accused the Opposition of deliberately disrupting Assembly proceedings and denying the house an opportunity to discuss important matters.