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Kerala gold smuggling case: Accused Swapna Suresh writes to PM seeking CBI probe
Suresh believes a thorough CBI investigation will help unravel the role of many influential people in the smuggling case, in which she has named Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan as well
Swapna Suresh, the prime accused in the 2020 Kerala gold smuggling case, on Tuesday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the matter as she believes to have been made a scapegoat by “several influential people”.
In her letter, Suresh said many other accused, like former principal secretary of Kerala chief minister – M Sivasankar, was leading a normal life unlike her.
She said she was only a junior-level employee in the United Arab Emirates consulate and her job profile was to obey the orders of her superiors, but now she was singled out and the whole blame has been allegedly pinned on her.
Suresh believes a thorough CBI investigation will help unravel the role of many influential people in the smuggling case.
“I was simply obeying orders of my line managers and doing this through the UAE consulate, and I had no say in the matters. When it was brought to light by the Customs Department, they left us stranded behind bars for 15 months for not disclosing anything,” she said in her letter to the PM, adding that Sivasankar was in jail for three months but the state government took a lenient view, got him released and reinstated him.
“Deprived and unfortunate employees like me will solely be punished, but the real accused will escape from underneath your nose,” she said.
The prime accused in the case also reiterated her earlier charges against chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan, his family members, senior IAS officers, former ministers, among others. She said smuggling through the consulate was a serious issue and a CBI inquiry will fish out the truth.
She also requested an audience with the prime minister, stating that her life was in danger after she gave a statement under Section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
“It would be just and fair if the government of Kerala does not intervene in this matter as government officials themselves are prime suspects. The gravity of the smuggling case was bigger than Bofors, 2G and other cases,” she said in her letter.
A conspiracy case was slapped on Suresh on June 6 after she gave a confidential statement before a magistrate in Ernakulam. Later, she told media persons that “chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan and his family members knew about activities involving the UAE consulate, and heavy biryani pots were taken to his house from the consulate several times”.
Later, former minister KT Jaleel filed a complaint alleging a conspiracy to defame senior leaders of the ruling Communist Party of India (Marxist) government and weaken it. She was booked under sections 120 B (criminal conspiracy) and 153 (provocation with the intent to cause riot) of the Indian Penal Code on June 8. The government then constituted a special investigation team under additional director general of police Vijay Sakhre to probe the case.
The sensational case surfaced on 5 July 2020 when the Customs Department seized 30 kg of gold hidden in bathroom fittings of one of the consignments that arrived at the UAE consulate in Thiruvananthapuram, packaged as ‘diplomatic baggage’.
A former employee of the consulate, PS Sarith, who came to receive the consignment was arrested the same day. A week later the National Investigation Agency arrested Suresh and her accomplice Sandeep Nair from Bengaluru. Three months later, Sivasankar was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate, only to be released soon after.
