Thiruvananthapuram/Kottayam | Former Kerala Minister V N Vasavan on Friday alleged that the government's move to appoint a lawyer who had appeared for some of the accused in the Sabarimala gold loss cases as the Devaswom's special pleader was an attempt to "sabotage" the ongoing investigation.

Terming the appointment "mysterious", Vasavan told reporters in Kottayam that the lawyer, K P Pradeep, had not only appeared for the accused Govardhan and Pankaj Bhandari in the gold loss cases but had also represented Smart Creations, the company entrusted with the gold-plating work, before the Kerala High Court.

He was referring to the cases related to the alleged misappropriation of gold from the copper plates of the Dwarapalaka (guardian deity) idols and the doors of the Sreekovil (sanctum sanctorum) of the Lord Ayyappa shrine.

The Special Investigation Team probing the cases is yet to file its chargesheet.

Chennai-based Smart Creations had been awarded the contract for the gold-plating of the artefacts, and Bhandari was the company's CEO.

Current Devaswoms Minister K Muraleedharan said Pradeep was appointed in accordance with a Cabinet decision and that he had left the matter entirely to Chief Minister V D Satheesan's discretion.

He also said he was not present at the last Cabinet meeting as he was in Wayanad in view of the Shigella cases reported there.

"I assure you that none of the culprits will escape. He (Pradeep) will know the weaknesses of the accused because he represented them earlier. That is a good thing. A decision taken by the Cabinet should not be rejected by a minister," he told reporters in the state capital.

Speaking to the media, Vasavan also claimed that a new post, which did not exist earlier, had been created for Pradeep and that it was done to ensure that the role of Congress leaders in the Sabarimala gold-loss case did not come to light.

He further contended that the Congress had yet to explain why Unnikrishnan Potty, the main accused in the gold-loss cases, had met senior Congress leader Sonia Gandhi at her residence in Delhi.