Gold smuggling case: Customs to question Sivasankar again
The department wants to grill the suspended bureaucrat to get clarifications on some contradictions in his and Swapna Suresh’s statements.
The department wants to grill the suspended bureaucrat to get clarifications on some contradictions in his and Swapna Suresh’s statements.
The department wants to grill the suspended bureaucrat to get clarifications on some contradictions in his and Swapna Suresh’s statements.
Kochi: The Customs Department has decided to question former principal secretary to the chief minister M Sivasankar again in connection with the seizure of 30 kg of smuggled gold from a diplomatic parcel at the Thiruvananthapuram airport cargo complex.
The department wants to grill the suspended bureaucrat to get clarifications on some contradictions in his and Swapna Suresh’s statements. It has not fixed a date for the questioning.
Swapna is the second accused in the gold smuggling case. Sivasankar was removed as the principal secretary to the chief minister and as IT principal secretary after his links with Swapna emerged during investigations into the case. He was later suspended.
It has been learnt Swapna has made crucial revelations about the case in her statements. Indications are that they contain information about her financial dealings and those involved in the case.
The Customs (Preventive) section has submitted the statements to the court in a sealed envelope. Swapna had demanded that the statements be produced in court. However, the Customs Department clarified that the submission was only a normal procedure.
Meanwhile, Varikkodan Abdul Hameed, a native of Perinthalmanna, appeared before Customs (Preventive) officers on Monday in connection with the case. His statement was recorded.
Investigating agencies have found out that he had sent the first 'test dose' parcel in July 2019 as a trial run for executing the plan to smuggle gold through diplomatic parcels. The test dose, however, did not contain gold, investigating officials said.
Abdul Hameed had earlier told Manorama News channel that he had delivered diplomatic parcels three times to an air cargo agency at the Dubai airport on the instructions of Sandeep Nair, the fourth accused in the smuggling case. The cargo agency had returned one of the parcels, he said.
Sandeep Nair was arrested along with Swapna from Bengaluru on July 11 while the two were trying to flee after the case, detected on July 5, was handed over to the National Investigation Agency (NIA).