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Kerala gold smuggling case:NIA files charge sheet, names 20
Thiruvananthapuram: The National Investigation Agency (NIA), which is probing a gold smuggling racket uncovered in Kerala in July, on Tuesday filed the first charge-sheet,
Thiruvananthapuram: The National Investigation Agency (NIA), which is probing a gold smuggling racket uncovered in Kerala in July, on Tuesday filed the first charge-sheet, in a surprise naming one of the suspects as an approver to substantiate the prosecution’s case.
NIA filed the charge-sheet in a special court in Kochi. The charge-sheet named Sandip Nair, who was arrested along with main accused Swapna Suresh from a Bengaluru hideout in July, as approver.
The agency filed the first charge-sheet at a time when some suspects had been planning to move the courts for bail after spending six months in judicial custody. Twenty persons have been named in the charge-sheet and they have been booked under sections 16,17, 18 and 20 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, NIA said in a statement.
Senior Indian Administrative Service officer M Sivasankar, who was chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s secretary, did not figure in the initial charge-sheet. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested him in connection with money laundering charges related to the gold smuggling racket. Thirty five suspects have been arrested so far.
A senior official familiar with the probe said a supplementary charge-sheet will be filed later as the investigation progresses. He also said on condition of anonymity that efforts were under way to secure the extradition of some suspects from West Asian countries.
The gold smuggling racket was uncovered with the discovery of a consignment in July addressed to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) consulate in Thiruvananthapuram. Customs officers seized 30 kg gold from the diplomatic consignment:
Tuesday’s charge-sheet was filed by investigating officer Radhakrishna Pillai before the NIA court.While hearing the bail pleas of some of the suspects in the case, the court had repeatedly asked the agency to submit evidence of a terror angle to the case. This is the first time the agency slapped the UAPA on suspects in a smuggling case.
“Investigation revealed that the accused had knowingly conspired since June 2019, raised funds and smuggled from the UAE, between Nov 19 and June 20 around 167 kgs of gold, through the import cargo addressed to diplomats at the consular general office of UAE in Thiruvananthapuram,” said the NIA.
The main accused in the case also planned to smuggle more gold from countries like Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Malaysia, it said adding eight accused are still at large. The case was registered by the central agency on July 10.
