NGO fires gold smuggling accused Swapna Suresh alleging govt harassment

Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan last week told the state Assembly that an NGO was protecting her and footing all her expenses in lieu of tirade against the government

A Palakkad-based non-government organisation (NGO), High Range Rural Development Society (HRDS), on Wednesday terminated the service of the Kerala gold smuggling accused, Swapna Suresh, alleging harassment by government agencies.

Swapna Suresh was appointed as the director of women empowerment programme of a Palakkad-based NGO in February this year after she was released on bail in the gold smuggling case. (ANI)

The NGO appointed Swapna as the director of women empowerment programme in February this year after she was released on bail in the gold smuggling case. The HRDS office in Palakkad was the main venue of her recurring interaction with the media.

Chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan last week told the state Assembly that an NGO backed by Sangh Parivar outfits was protecting her and footing all her expenses in lieu of tirade against the government.

HRDS said it was forced to discontinue her service due to continued pressure from government agencies. “Officials visit the office quite often and start questioning employees, even cleaning workers were not spared. Our work started getting affected so we have no other option,” said Joy Mathew, HRDS vice-president.

He said ever since she was employed four months ago, HRDS was hounded by police, revenue, vigilance and other agencies and often its employees were subjected to interrogation. Another official said the HRDS was quite unhappy with the way she used the company letter head to send a letter to the Prime Minister demanding a central agency probe into her allegations against the chief minister.

After recording her confidential statement under section 164 of CrPC last month she raised serious allegations against chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan and his family members. She alleged that they were aware of the gold smuggling and money-laundering through the UAE consulate in the state capital. Police later slapped a conspiracy case against her and constituted a special investigation team.

Swapna said her termination was expected as HRDS officials were under tremendous pressure to boot her out. “This was expected. I will continue my struggle. I stick to whatever I said,” she said in Kochi.

The gold smuggling case surfaced on July 5, 2020 when customs seized 30 kg gold hidden in bathroom fittings in one of the consignments, camouflaged as diplomatic baggage, came to the UAE consulate in Thiruvananthapuram. A former employee of the consulate, P S Sarith, who came to receive the consignment was arrested the same day and after a week the National Investigation Agency (NIA) arrested Swapna Suresh and her accomplice Sandeep Nair from Bengaluru. Three months after this, the chief minister’s former principal secretary M Sivasankar, a senior Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer, was also arrested. He was reinstated in January after a 17-month suspension.

Swapna’s latest contention is that the whole blame was put on her and she was made a scapegoat though all of them knew about the “murky deals and accepted largesse from them”. She also complained that she has faced threats to her life several times.