Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials on Monday questioned UAE gold smuggling case accused Swapna Suresh at the Attakulangara Women’s Prison here.
The COFEPOSA detainee had been at the centre of several political controversies since her incarceration in July. The ED was tight-lipped about the nature of the interview or what topics they had broached with the suspect. The agency had earlier sought permission of the court to question Swapna in the absence of jail or police officials.
Last month, an online news portal with a pronounced Left-leaning had published a subtitled audio recording claiming the unidentified voice to be that of Swapna.
The Speaker claimed that the ED had pressurised her to give a statement implicating Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in the case. Left leaders had spotlighted the questionable voice clipping as evidence of a Central government-backed political plot against the government.
Subsequently, the Customs arrested Swapna for a second time on the charge of smuggling out the profits of gold smuggling as foreign currency to Dubai.
The suspect gave a complaint in court that some persons having the mein of jail or police officers had threatened her at the Women’s Prison against cooperating with the Customs. The opposition portrayed the complaint as evidence of a government cover-up bid.
The ED’s questioning came against the backdrop of the controversies. The agency was yet to reveal the nature of the information they sought from Swapna.
