Kerala gold smuggling case: ED to record Swapna’s statement again after fresh revelation
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) probing the Thiruvananthapuram gold smuggling case has asked the prime accused, Swapna Suresh, to appear before the ED officials in Kochi. The officials will question her tomorrow.
The ED is closely monitoring the latest developments in which the key accused Swapna Suresh has made some shocking revelations. The investigation team’s move is to produce Swapna’s statement in court
Swapna had revealed that Sivsankar, the former principal secretary to the Kerala chief minister, knew about the smuggling of gold through the diplomatic channel.
The Kerala gold smuggling case pertains to the smuggling of gold in the state through diplomatic channels. It had come to light after 30 kg gold worth Rs.14.82 crore smuggled in a consignment camouflaged as diplomatic baggage was busted by the customs department in Thiruvananthapuram on July 5, 2019.
Reacting to the new developments Swapna said she is yet to get the summons as she has some technical issues with her email. “Of course, if they have sent it, I will definitely cooperate with them. I reacted because he (Sivasankar) portrayed me in such a manner and hence I spoke the truth. The future is bleak before me,” said Swapna.
The autobiography written by Sivasankar revealed that ‘he never did any favour to Swapna’ and also added that ‘he never knew the iPhone that was gifted to him by her was part of a bribe’.
Replying to this Swapna said that it was Sivasankar who destroyed her life and all that she knew, he also knew. She also pointed out that he had told her that he will take voluntary retirement and settle down with her in the UAE.
She said that it was with his help that she, along with her husband and children and their friend Sandip Nair, managed to sneak out of Kerala, when the gold smuggling case surfaced in July 2020, when the entire state was under massive Covid travel restrictions. Another revelation of hers was that of the two audio clips of hers, one which came out on the day she and her family were on the run to Bengaluru and another while in custody, she said, it was all stage-managed and directed by Sivasankar and others.
In presence of two women police officers, Swapna said that she was asked to give a clean chit to Vijayan and to say that she was being pressurized by the central agencies to implicate Vijayan. Swapna further said she was told and if she did so, she would be made an approver in the case. After this, the Kerala Police registered a case against the ED officials, but the Kerala High Court quashed that.
Meanwhile, the other central agencies — Customs and Intelligence Bureau have also registered cases supplementary to the gold smuggling case, and in all these Swapna is an accused and now out on bail.
On the political front, the ruling CPI-M has been jolted by the revelations. While the Congress and the BJP slammed Vijayan, the CPI-M’s only reaction was they will go by what Sivasankar said and dismissed Swapna’s allegations as baseless.
[With Inputs from IANS]
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