A court-monitored investigation by Central agencies is required into the new revelations of the diplomatic channel gold smuggling accused Swapana Suresh, Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) MP N.K. Premachandran has said.
Speaking at a meet-the-press programme here on Saturday, Mr. Premachandran said there was politics of fear and ‘mafiaisation of institutions’ in the State, referring to the alleged involvement of a senior Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) who was removed from his post soon after his name cropped up in a conversation between Swapna and her acquaintance.
Forming a special investigation team led by a Superintendent of Police (SP) comprising 10 Deputy Superintendents of Police (DySPs) to probe the conspiracy angle of the case, while there was no effort to take action based on the revelations, points to the direction where the state government was heading. This is a kind of government-sponsored terror, said Mr, Premachandran.
‘Then and now’
When the solar scam had roiled the office of Chief Minister Oommen Chandy during the fag end of the previous United Democratic Front (UDF) government, the then Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI(M)) party secretary who is the Chief Minister now, had famously quipped that “Aren’t you (Chandy) ashamed to cling on to the power. You should quit if you have any moral sense left.” The present Chief Minister should understand that his earlier remarks still have relevance, said Mr. Premachandran.
Even as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) attacked the state government over this issue, there was a tacit understanding between BJP and CPI(M) right from the SNC-Lavalin corruption case to the latest gold smuggling through diplomatic channel. Mr. Premachandran also demanded a probe into the assets of the CPI(M), which is still ranked 5th or 6th in terms of wealth of political parties in the country, despite having power only in one State.
