The bail application of seven accused in the diplomatic channel gold smuggling case, including Swapna Suresh, P.S. Sarith, and K.T. Rameez, were rejected by the Special Court of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Monday.
NIA Special Judge K. Kamanees also dismissed the bail applications of A.M. Jalal, Muhammad Ali, K.T. Sharafuddeen, Rabins Hameed, and P. Muhammed Shafi on the day.
HC decision
The Special Court, which relied heavily on the Kerala High Court’s decision accepting the distinction between front-liner accused and others in the case, noted that Sandeep, Swapna and Rameez were shown to be the principal conspirators and the prosecution had brought prosecutable evidence against them in the case.
The trial court also analysed the “extent of participation of each petitioner in the crime” and to see whether there were “materials prima facie suggesting that the case made out against them was true,” to decide on the bail application.
Voice clips
The voice clips, the court pointed out, retrieved on digital examination and other evidence fixed the roles of the accused in the conspiracy hatched to smuggle gold. “The discussions in the voice chats revealed their plans to have the smuggling endeavour multiplied manifold, plots to secure gold from other countries, and to smuggle them more often and in greater quantities. It cannot be said that the case records prima facie reveal that the prosecution story is untrue,” the court noted.
In the case of Jalal, the court found that there were serious materials, including the confessional statements of a few accused in the case, prima facie revealing conspiracy.
There were materials to show prima facie that he had accompanied Rameez to an apartment in Thiruvananthapuram and taken part in meetings with the other accused to conspire on the smuggling operations, the court noted.
