KOCHI: The Kerala high court on Tuesday granted bails to eight of the accused in ‘diplomatic gold smuggling’ case, including key accused Swapna Prabha Suresh and Sarith PS.
A division bench led by justice K Vinod Chandran agreed with the contention of the accused and said the chargesheet, prima facie, does not disclose a terrorist act as defined under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, or UAPA.
Besides Swapna and Sarith, those who were granted bails by the court were 7th accused Mohammed Shafi P of Malappuram, 6th accused Jalal AM of Muvattupuzha, 10th accused Rabins Karikkanakudiyil Hameed alias Rabins Hameed of Ernakulam, 5th accused Ramees KT of Malappuram, 11th accused Sharafudeen KT of Malappuram, and 12th accused Mohammed Ali of Muvattupuzha. The accused were represented by senior advocates CC Thomas, S Sreekumar, and S Gopakumaran Nair and advocates Nireesh Mathew, Sooraj T Elenjickal, and Manu Tom Cheruvally.
The accused had relied on a division bench’s judgment (Muhammed Shafi P Vs. NIA, Kochi of 2021) to contend that the offences alleged is only smuggling and UAPA is not attracted. Through the judgment, a division bench had held that smuggling of gold is covered by the provisions of the Customs Act and will not fall within the definition of ‘terrorist act’ under section 15 of UAPA.
As per the case of National Investigation Agency (NIA), Customs had seized 30.422 kilogrammes of gold, worth Rs14.82 crores, being smuggled through Trivandrum International Airport by camouflaging it as diplomatic baggage. Swapna and Sarith, using their connection with the Consulate of United Arab Emirates, were accused of facilitating the smuggling. Investigation found that the smuggling had occurred several times earlier, NIA had alleged. By large-scale smuggling of gold, the accused threatened the economic stability of the country and therefore committed a terrorist act punishable under section 15 of UAPA, prosecution had alleged.
In the judgment, the court said, prima facie, there is nothing in the chargesheet to find the accused having indulged in a terrorist act other than mixing the narration of facts and allegations in the chargesheet with words such as ‘damage to economic security and stability of the country and terrorist activities’.
The facts narrated and the charges alleged in the chargesheet do not commend us to find the accused having any connection with any terrorist act under section 15, least of all, a threat to the economic security of the nation, the division bench said in the judgment.
Granting bails to the accused, the court has directed to release them upon executing a bond for Rs25 lakhs each with two solvent sureties each for the like sum to the satisfaction of the special court. The accused have also been directed to deposit their passports with the special court, not to leave Kerala without the court’s permission, or try to influence witnesses directly or indirectly. They have also been ordered not to commit similar offence while out on bail.
The court began the 50-page judgment by citing the words of poet and lyricist Ayyappa Paniker in a popular Malayalam song of 1992 from the movie ‘Cheppadi Vidya’ titled ‘Verumoru Moshtavayorenne Nee Kallannennu Vilichille’ and said the accused in this case are lamenting that ‘We are petty smugglers unduly labelled as terrorists’.
