P.S. Sarith, an accused in the diplomatic channel gold smuggling case, has not mentioned the name of any political party leader in his court statement recorded the other day.
At the same time, he submitted that there was pressure on him to name some political leaders from the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the case.
There were reports that Sarith had stated before the court that some jail officials had compelled him to name former Leader of the Opposition and Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala and BJP leader and Union Minister of State V. Muraleedharan in the gold smuggling case. However, sources privy to the development said that the accused did not mention the names of any political leaders. Instead, he chose to level complaints against two jail officials of Central Prison, Poojappura, where he had been housed, they said.
The reported statements of Sarith had triggered a political controversy. The Opposition Congress and the BJP had alleged that the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI (M)] was attempting to falsely implicate the leaders of Opposition parties. The BJP leaders went to the extent of alleging that the government was attempting to implicate Mr. Muraleedharan in the case to deviate public attention from the allegations raised against the CPI(M) in connection with the Karipur gold smuggling case.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) Special Judge recorded the statements of the accused in his chamber on Saturday by exercising the magisterial powers of the Special Judge. The judge recorded the statements after the NIA and the Additional Solicitor General submitted that his statements shall be recorded immediately.
Besides Sarith, the NIA and the Additional Solicitor General had submitted before the court that the life of the accused was under threat.
Seeks report
The Special Judge sought a report from the jail authorities on the complaint of the counsel of the accused that some of the jail authorities had violated his basic human rights and required him to name some political leaders
The court posted the case for July 16.
Meanwhile, the Jail DGP has submitted before the Economic Offences Court that Sarith and K.T. Rameez, another accused, smoked in jail on July 5. The jail authorities had seized two small scissors, beedi and a cigarette lighter from the accused. The accused were putting in trouble the officials, who acted against their illegal activities, by submitting false petitions, the report said.
