The National Investigation Agency has filed a chargesheet in the gold smuggling case before the NIA Special Court in Kochi on the 180th day, or the last day of the sixth month, of its taking over the case. A delay beyond six months would have given the accused natural bail.
The NIA chargesheet has been filed against 20 of the 21 accused it had arrested. The names in the chargesheet include Swapna Suresh, Sarith, K T Ramees and Rabins K Hameed.
Sandeep Nair has turned approver and, therefore, has been excluded from the chargesheet. It was in September that Sandeep Nair filed a plea saying he was willing to reveal the details of the gold smuggling racket under section 164 (Recording of confessions and statements) of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
Sandeep Nair, the fourth accused in the case, was arrested along with Swapna Suresh from Bengaluru. It was Sandeep Nair's shop that Speaker P Sreeramakrishnan had gone to inaugurate at the insistence of Swapna Suresh.
Charges have been framed under sections 16, 17 and 18 of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA). All these sections deal with punishment for terrorist acts. It is not clear yet whether the NIA has been able to mobilise enough evidence to establish that the accused had used the proceeds from the gold smuggling for anti-national activities. The NIA court, too, had earlier asked the NIA to provide proof of terrorist activities.
The NIA sources said more proof would be unearthed once Faisal Fareed was extradited. The NIA has not been able to get Faisal Fareed, considered the mastermind of the smuggling racket, to India. Fareed, though he was included in the NIA's most-wanted list and had been arrested in the UAE on October 2 last year, is not in the chargesheet. Rabins, who was also holed up in the UAE, was arrested by the NIA after the UAE deported him in the last week of October.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's former principal, secretary M Sivasankar is also not included as the NIA had in the third week of October told the NIA Court that it did not plan to include him as an accused for the time being.
The gold smuggling racket was busted on July 5 when a consignment addressed to the UAE Consulate was opened by Customs at the Thiruvananthapuram International Airport following a tip off. The inspection revealed 30 kg of gold hidden in sanitary items.
Soon enough, the NIA registered a case under the UAPA. Later, the Enforcement Directorate initiated a money laundering probe.
