The Enforcement Directorate has told the Supreme Court that former top civil servant and prime accused in the Kerala gold smuggling case, M. Sivasankar, is fabricating evidence to prove that the probe officer is “exerting pressure” on accused Swapna Suresh to entangle Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in the case.
The ED appealed to the apex court to cancel Mr. Sivasankar’s bail.
The ED’s move just a few days ahead of the Assembly polls came even as the Kerala police have, in a rather unconventional turn of events, filed a case against ED officers for ‘forcing’ Ms. Suresh to implicate Mr. Vijayan.
“After coming out on bail, the respondent accused [Mr. Sivasankar] has been influencing other accused and is using the State machinery to fabricate false evidence against the investigating officer and the investigating agency in the form of creating false statements containing allegations against the investigating officer that he is exerting pressure on one of the prime accused to name the Chief Minister of Kerala in the gold smuggling case by two women State police constables who were allegedly on guard duty during the custody of the accused Smt. Swapna Suresh from August 5, 2020 to August 11, 2020,” the ED said in an application filed in the apex court.
The application refers to a complaint made by another accused, Sandeep Nair, before the Sessions Court. Mr. Nair had claimed that he was harassed by the investigating officer to name Mr. Vijayan, three other State Ministers and the son of an influential person in the smuggling case.
Mr. Nair had claimed that he was shown a list of companies and asked to give a statement that the Ministers had investments in them.
The ED said these allegations have been “cooked up” to subvert the probe.
“These are cooked up stories to tarnish the image of the investigating agency and to sabotage the ongoing investigation with the help of highly influential accused and other persons,” the application said.
The ED said the “entire episode” was precipitated after the release of Mr. Sivasankar on bail.
“He is using his influence to derail the ongoing investigation with the help of the State machinery,” the ED said.
