Gold smuggling through diplomatic route began after Muraleedharan became union minister: Pinarayi

V Muraleedharan, Pinarayi Vijayan
Union Minister V Muraleedharan (left) and Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan

Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Saturday alleged that smuggling of gold through diplomatic baggage began after BJP leader V Muraleedharan took over as Union Minister of State for External Affairs.

Pinarayi claimed Muraleedharan, on multiple occasions, had said the baggage seized by the Customs was not a diplomatic one.

"We have heard a Minister of State who is in charge of the Union Ministry of External Affairs. He is said to be in charge of the Middle East. Is there any estimate of how much gold has been smuggled since he became a minister?"

"Didn't the smuggling of gold through the diplomatic channel start after this minister took charge? Does this minister have anything to do with the person who persuaded the accused to say that the smuggling was not in diplomatic baggage?" Pinarayi asked at his customary sunset briefing.

The CPM in Kerala had alleged Muraleedharan had all along been insisting that the bag in which 30 kg of gold was seized by customs officials at the international airport here on July 5 last year was not diplomatic cargo.

"When the finance minister said in Parliament that the gold was smuggled in a diplomatic baggage, why did this Minister of State (Muraleedharan) repeatedly take an opposite view? It is the same minister who is now wielding the sword of Customs against the state government," Pinarayi said referring to the stand taken by Muraleedharan on the issue.

The chief minister's statement targeting Muraleedharan came hours after he rubbished as "childish" the CPM's allegation that the BJP was politically using the probe agencies.

A day after the Customs, probing the gold smuggling case, claimed key accused Swapna Suresh has made "shocking revelations" against him, assembly Speaker P Sreeramakrishnan and some ministers on dollar 'smuggling' involving UAE consulate officials, Pinarayi said the agency was trying to "defame" state cabinet members in connection with the case.

The Customs department had on July 5 last year seized gold worth about Rs 15 crore from a "diplomatic baggage" at and has arrested many people, including Swapna Suresh and Sarith PS, former employees of the UAE Consulate.

(With inputs from PTI)

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