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Customs dept plans to move Kerala gold smuggling accused to another state
Last week, one of the accused said before a court that he was pressurized into taking names of Congress and BJP leaders.
The customs department probing the Kerala gold smuggling case is planning to move the main accused in the case to a neighbouring state alleging intervention from many quarters, HT has learnt.
Last week one of the accused, PS Sarith, gave a statement before a court that he was pressurized into taking the names of the Congress and BJP leaders.
Five main accused are in jail under the Conservation of Foreign Exchange and Prevention of Smuggling Activities Act (Cofeposa). One of them, Sarith, deposed before a court alleging that jail authorities were torturing him and forced him to take names of Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders to implicate them in the case. Later, central jail authorities in Thiruvananthapuram denied this and filed a counter-complaint against him and another accused KT Ramees saying they regularly flout jail norms and discipline.
“It is a serious issue. We are planning to move the High Court with a plea to shift these accused to another jail. Threat to Cofeposa detainees is really serious and we also have informed the central government about this,” said a senior customs officer who did not wish to be named.
He said the Centre can also move the Supreme Court to shift all cases relating to the gold smuggling to another state if the situation continued.
Earlier, the mother of another accused named Swapna Suresh also alleged that her daughter was facing threat to her life for not changing her statements. She alleged that many in the CM’s office were aware that the smuggling was done through the consulate office. Then consulate head used to visit the CM quite often, she alleged.
The Congress and BJP deplored the alleged move to implicate its leaders. “The ruling CPI(M) will have to pay a heavy price for this,” said state Congress chief K Sudhakaran. “Desperate, the government wants to sully the image of opposition leaders,” said BJP state president K Surendran.
At least four central agencies (customs, revenue intelligence, enforcement directorate (ED) and NIA) are involved in the gold smuggling probe. The sensational case came to light on July 5 last year after 30 kilograms of gold was seized from a consignment that came to the United Arab Emirates consulate in the state capital camouflaged as a diplomatic consignment.
The central agencies and state government locked horns several times over the case. The government filed a case against the ED last year and later constituted a judicial commission against it saying it was trying to implicate many state leaders including chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan in the case.
