E-Paper
ED, Kerala police on collision course over gold smuggling probe
This comes after some of the accused in the case recently alleged that they had been forced to take big names by the ED and two police officers who were escorting the accused gave a statement mentioning that they had overheard the ED officials' threats in this regard.
The Kerala police crime branch on Friday lodged a case against the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for allegedly trying to implicate chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan in the gold smuggling case as the state's election draws near.
This comes after some of the accused in the case recently alleged that they had been forced to take big names by the ED and two police officers who were escorting the accused gave a statement mentioning that they had overheard the ED officials' threats in this regard. Another police official said that she was a witness to ED officials threatening the main accused in the gold smuggling case, Swapna Suresh.
This move leads to the state police flexing their muscles with the Central agency. The police had received legal advice that they could register a case against a Central agency for threatening, false implications, and other charges. However, legal experts have said that ED officials could not be implicated so easily by the state police.
On July 5, 2020, the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs had seized 30kg of 24 karat gold worth over ₹14 crore at the Thiruvananthapuram airport which was supposed to be delivered to the UAE Consulate in the city.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) probe named Swapna Suresh as one of the accused and after further investigation, it was found that CM Pinarayi Vijayan's principal secretary M Sivasankar had links to Suresh. Sivasankar was suspended and eventually removed from his post
The customs department had, on March 5, told the Kerala High Court that CM Vijayan, three of his ministers and the Speaker knew of the gold smuggling activities through the United Arab Emirates (UAE) consulate in Thiruvananthapuram.
The chief minister had said that the Trivandrum airport, which was under the Centre's control, was a hub for gold smuggling and asked Union home minister Amit Shah for answers at a public gathering in Kannur on March 9.
"Trivandrum Airport is completely under the control of the central government. How did Trivandrum airport become a hub for gold smuggling after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power? Amit Shah should answer it. Not Kerala CM but Amit Shah has the responsibility to answer it," he said.
