A bank locker was opened in the name of Swapna Suresh at the behest of M Sivasankar, tainted ex-Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, as per the statement of a chartered accountant (CA) who is also under investigation by the Customs and other agencies in the Thiruvananthapuram gold smuggling case.
The statement recorded by the Customs was being verified, sources said. The investigating agencies had seized one kg of gold and Rs one crore in cash from the locker jointly owned by the CA and Swapna Suresh.
Swapna Suresh is one of the main accused in a suspected smuggling operation unearthed at the Trivandrum International Airport after a Customs seizure of 30 kg of gold on July 5.
The Customs had raided the residence and office of the CA and the questioning was pursuant to that. It is learned that this CA prepared and filed the IT returns of Sivasankar and Swapna Suresh.
Meanwhile, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) took Ramees, another accused, to Thiruvananthapuram for evidence-gathering.
He was taken to Sivasankar’s apartment and the hotel opposite it on the basis of information that the other accused had met there often as part of the larger conspiracy.
Swapna Suresh, P S Sarith Kumar, and Sandeep Nair, all accused, had said in their statements that they had met and hatched plans at the hotel opposite Sivasankar’s flat. Sources said Ramees was taken there to establish these. The NIA also took Ramees to the hotel in Kovalam where he was put up. Later, he was questioned at the police club at night, sources said.
