Thiruvananthapuram: In a new twist to the gold smuggling racket at Thiruvananthapuram International Airport, the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) revealed that two close aides of noted violinist Balabhaskar, who died in a car crash on September 25, 2018, had smuggled in over 200 kg gold from Dubai after the musician's death.
The duo – Prakash Thampi and Vishnu -- accused in the gold smuggling case, are also under a cloud of suspicion over Balabhaskar’s death. The police are still investigating their role in the accident in which the violinist died.
The DRI officers suspected that Thampi and Vishnu, friends of Balabhaskar, were the main links in the gold smuggling case. However, there is no evidence of their involvement in gold smuggling before Balabhaskar's death, the DRI said.
Balabhaskar’s family was on their way home when their car met with an accident at Pallipuram near Thiruvananthapuram. While Balabhaskar and his wife Lakshmi were rushed to a nearby hospital, their two-year-old daughter Tejaswini died on the spot. Balabhaskar died at the hospital on October 2.
The probe into the death intensified after his former programme coordinator Prakash Thampi was recently arrested for gold smuggling.
Thampi reportedly used the name of Balabhaskar to get acquainted with the customs superintendent, who was arrested for his role in the gold smuggling via Thiruvananthapuram airport.
The interrogation of Vishnu, who had also surrendered recently, revealed more crucial information, DRI officials claimed. Thampi had travelled abroad seven times from November to May, while Vishnu had gone to Dubai 10 times during the seven-month period.
Those who were identified as carriers had also made trips on these days, prompting the probe team to conclude that these journeys were made for smuggling gold into Kerala from Dubai.
It is estimated that Thampi smuggled 60 kg gold while Vishnu trafficked 150 kg during these trips. However, the smuggling was carried out after Balabhaskar's death. Prior to which, they had made only a few trips to Dubai. Therefore, it is being concluded that they were not involved in smuggling while the musician was alive. Even customs superintendent Radhakrishnan stated that he met Thampi after Balabhaskar’s death.
Vishnu was suspected to be one of the ring leaders along with advocate Biju who controlled the smuggling. Biju was later arrested by the sleuths. It was Vishnu's aide who reportedly handed over gold to the carriers in Dubai and made arrangements for them.
The gold smuggling came to light after officials seized 25 kg gold at the Thiruvananthapuram International Airport in May and arrested a customs officer in connection with it. In the probe that
followed, the DRI was able to collect crucial evidence on the gang that was working from Thiruvananthapuram.
Advocate Biju Mohanan, Vishnu and Malappuram native Abdul Hakeem are the ringleaders. They identified women who are from well-off families and offered huge promises to make them carriers.
Women were used as carriers to smuggle gold via airports in a huge racket involving more than 20 people, a revenue intelligence report has revealed. At least 400 kg gold was smuggled in a year-and-a-half, it is said.
Apart from advocate Biju's wife Vineetha and Sereena Shaji, who was caught with the gold in May, the gang used six other women as carriers. The other six women travelled from Dubai to Thiruvananthapuram four times in six months, it was found.
The woman carrier would be sent along with a man on the pretext of being his wife and would manage to bypass the inspection. Advocate Biju managed to smuggle gold seven times. Thiruvananthapuram native Akash Shaji buys the gold from Dubai and that would be then taken to the Kerala capital and sold to Abdul Hakeem, it was learnt.
