Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala police team probing the conspiracy case against Swapna Suresh, a key accused in the gold smuggling through diplomatic baggage case, has recorded the statement of Saritha S Nair. Nair, the solar scam accused, deposed before the special investigation team (SIT) that politician P C George and Nandakumar, editor of Crime magazine, were behind Suresh’s recent allegations against Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.
The police, meanwhile, have sought legal opinion on whether to arraign Suresh’s controversial acquaintance Shaj Kiran as an accused. A decision on questioning Suresh and Shaj will be taken next week when the SIT meets. The government raised conspiracy charges against Suresh after an audio clip of a telephonic conversation between George and Nair emerged in media. The duo were heard discussing Suresh’s case in the audio clip. Police on Wednesday had lodged a case under Sections 153 (giving provocation with intent to cause a riot) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code against Suresh on the basis of Former Minister Jaleel’s complaint.
The High Court on Thursday dismissed an anticipatory bail plea jointly moved by Suresh and co-accused in the gold smuggling scam Sarith P S, saying the offences she has been booked for in the FIR were bailable and that the latter was not even an accused in the case. Triggering a political storm in the state, earlier this week, Swapna had claimed that she disclosed before the court — in her statement under Section 164 of Criminal Procedure Code — the other people allegedly involved in the smuggling cases and their ‘degrees of involvement’. She said she had given statements against the CM, his family, Jaleel and some other top bureaucrats. After her revelations before the media, subsequent to recording her Section 164 statement, Vijayan had issued a statement dismissing Suresh’s claims and allegations as ‘baseless’.
Swapna Suresh, a former employee of the UAE Consulate here, was taken into custody by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) along with another accused Sandeep Nair from Bengaluru on July 11, 2020. The NIA, Enforcement Directorate (ED) and Customs conducted separate probes into the racket that was busted with the seizure of gold worth Rs 15 crore from the diplomatic baggage of the UAE Consulate at Thiruvananthapuram airport on July 5, 2020. Several people, including M Sivasankar, the former Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister and another ex-employee of the UAE Consulate here, Sarith, were arrested in connection with the case.
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