
Thiruvananthapuram:
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Thursday told a special court in Kochi that the prime suspect in the Kerala gold smuggling case, Swapna Suresh, had a good rapport with chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s office, triggering renewed opposition demands for the latter’s resignation.
Assistant solicitor general P Vijaykumar made this submission in the NIA court while opposing the bail plea of Suresh. He said she had established a good rapport with the CM’s office through suspended senior bureaucrat M Sivasankar, with whom she had good relations and who helped her in getting the plum posting of an information technology consultant to the Kerala government.
Vijaykumar, however, said investigations so far have shown that Sivasankar did not intervene to secure the release of a consignment addressed to the Thiruvananthapuram consulate of the United Arab Emirates that contained contraband gold when the customs department blocked it despite repeated pleas made by Suresh.The case came to light on July 5 after 30 kg of gold was seized from the consignment.
P Sarith Kumar, a former employee of the consulate who came to receive the consignment, was arrested by the customs department after the recovery of gold and two other suspects, Suresh and her accomplice Sandip Nair, were arrested from a hideout in Bengaluru five days later. Sivasankar, a senior Indian Administrative Service officer and chief minister Vijayan’s principal secretary, was suspended after his alleged links with Suresh surfaced.
Suresh’s counsel Joe Paul said she had become a victim in a tug of war between the central and state governments. A month after the investigation, the NIA had failed to produce any fresh evidence against his client, Paul said. He also denied the claim that Suresh had a good rapport with the CM’s office.
The court said it will decide on the bail plea on Monday.
The court asked the NIA how provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, or UAPA, could be invoked against the suspect.
The agency said a portion of the proceeds from the gold smuggling was diverted to fund anti-national activities. It also said that after a preliminary investigation it found that one of the suspects, K T Ramees, who is in NIA custody now, was in touch with some fundamentalist organizations. He also undertook many foreign trips including Tanzania in Africa and he was suspected to be a part of the international smuggling and drug racket, the NIA said.
When two of Suresh’s bank lockers were opened by the probe team 10 days ago, it reportedly found Rs 1 crore in cash and two kg of gold. These lockers were in the joint name of Suresh and a chartered accountant. The latter reportedly told the team that he was asked by Sivasankar to help Suresh to open lockers three years ago. But her counsel said these ornaments were part of her wedding gift.
After the NIA filed its affidavit, the opposition Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) stepped up pressure on the CM to resign.
“The CM can’t get away sacrificing his secretary. He should resign at least now,” said opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala of the Congress.
Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader A Ananthan said: “Investigation is on in the case and the CM also said it is in the right direction. Why do you want to jump the gun.” He said a casual observation made by the NIA during the bail plea hearing was being blown up.