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Kerala gold smuggling case: HC dismisses Swapna Suresh’s plea to quash FIRs
Swapna Suresh was booked under sections 120 B (criminal conspiracy) and 153 (provoke with an intent to cause riots) of the Indian Penal Code in connection with the Kerala gold smuggling case of 2020
Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala high court on Friday dismissed a plea by Swapna Suresh, key accused in the 2020 gold smuggling case, to quash two first information reports (FIRs) registered against her over her allegations against chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan in the matter in June earlier this year.
Dismissing the plea, justice Ziyad Rehman observed that the probe into the two cases were at the nascent stage but said the petitioner will get an opportunity to challenge the final report.
“After going through the entire materials available before this court, I am of the view that the challenge raised by the petitioner is pre-mature. The petitioner could not make out a case for interference at this stage and I do not find any justifiable reasons for interference in the present investigations,” the judge said in the order.
The gold smuggling case surfaced on July 5, 2020 after Customs officials at Thiruvananthapuram airport seized a diplomatic bag addressed to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) consulate following a tip-off that it was being used to smuggle gold. The bag arrived on a chartered flight from the UAE and contained 30kg of gold.
A former employee of the consulate, P S Sarith, who arrived to receive the consignment, was arrested the same day.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) subsequently took over the case.
On July 11, 2020, the agency arrested Suresh and her accomplice Sandeep Nair from Bengaluru.
The state government suspended the chief minister’s principal secretary, M Sivasankar, after his alleged links with Suresh emerged during the probe. Sivasankar was also arrested three months later.
Suresh was released on bail on November 2 last year.
In a confidential statement at a magistrate court in Kochi on June 6, Suresh alleged “the chief minister knew about everything and heavy biryani pots were taken to his house from the UAE consulate several times”.
She also levelled allegations against former minister K T Jaleel and Sivasankar.
Subsequently, two cases were filed against Suresh on the basis of a complaint by Jaleel in Thiruvananthapuram, and a CPI(M) leader in Palakkad.
The accused was booked under sections 120B (criminal conspiracy) and 153 (provoke with an intent to cause riots) of Indian Penal Code.
In her plea, before the high court, seeking quashing of the two cases, the petitioner alleged she was falsely implicated in the case. She claimed Jaleel filed the complaint after she gave information about his “illegal activities” before the court.
The prosecution, however, claimed the state witnessed violent incidents after her “disclosure” and alleged a conspiracy to weaken the ruling CPI(M) government.
It also informed the court that the state had constituted a special investigation team (SIT) to inquire the charges against her and said it would be improper to quash the FIRs at this juncture.
Suresh’s counsel argued the cases were filed to silence her and was an attempt to force her to withdraw her statement presented before a magistrate.
After hearing both sides, the high court ruled out the need to quash the FIRs.
Since Suresh has already secured an anticipatory bail in the matter, she cannot be arrested by the investigating team.
A charge sheet filed in January 2021 by the NIA claimed Kumar and Suresh used the seal and letter pad of the consulate general of the UAE in Thiruvananthapuram to issue forged authorisation letters to smuggle the gold through diplomatic cargo.
Besides the NIA, the Enforcement Directorate and Customs department is probing the case.
A purported case of dollar smuggling, which came to light during the course of investigation into the gold smuggling case, is also being probed by central agencies.
Vijayan, in the past, has accused the Centre of intimidation by using central agencies.
