After it was said that Assistant Solicitor General Vijay Kumar had told the NIA court that Swapna Suresh had links with Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vjayan's office, the counsel of Swapna Suresh, the second accused in the gold smuggling case, said his client knew the chief minister but made it appear like it was just a cursory acquaintance. "Don't all of us know the chief minister," Jio Paul, Swapna's lawyer, told reporters at the NIA court premises on Thursday.
However, Swapna's lawyer confirmed that his client had described in her statement that M Sivasankar, the former secretary to the CM, as her "mentor". Earlier, while opposing the bail application moved by Swapna in the NIA Court, the assistant solicitor general had reportedly said that Swapna had wielded influence in the CM's office through Sivasankar.
Nonetheless, it is still not clear whether Swapna had access to the chief minister. Some of the high-profile events where Swapna played a crucial role, including the opening of the UAE consulate and later the Space Conclave, had seen the participation of the chief minister.
It is possible that the chief minster could have known her at an official level. Any proximity beyond the official level has not been established by any of the agencies probing various angles to the case.
The NIA has also not been able to establish Sivasankar's role in gold smuggling. The agency had reportedly told the court, and is said to have even produced proof, that Swapna had gone to Sivasankar's flat to seek his help in getting the 'diplomatic baggage' released. The NIA but has not been able to produce evidence to show Sivasankar had intervened on her behalf.
But even the panel headed by the chief secretary had found Sivasankar guilty of favouring Swapna. The assistant solicitor general also told the NIA court that Sivasankar had gone out of the way to appoint Swapna in Kerala government's Space Park and he used to advise her on many issues.
Though details of Sivasankar's ties with Swapna have been doing the rounds for sometime, this is the first time that NIA has come on record about it.
The NIA court will decide on Swapna's bail application on August 10. Swapna's main argument, while seeking bail, was that there was no way Unlawful Activities Prevention Act could be invoked against her. "The NIA's case is made solely on the confessions of the two accused, which was something drawn up by the state police," Swapna's lawyer said.
Even the court had asked the NIA's counsel on how the case attracted the provisions of the UAPA. In its reply, the agency had stated that the money from the gold smuggling could have been used for financing terrorism in India.
Swapna's lawyer said even after 25 days, none of the central agencies, neither the NIA nor the Customs nor even the Enforcement Directorate, had not been able to generate any evidence that could link Swapna to terrorism.
He said Swapna's legal team was able to account for the 120 sovereigns of gold and Rs 1 crore in cash found in Swapna's possession. "Had the gold been in the form of bars or ingots, some suspicions could have been justifiably raised. But all the gold with Swapna was in jewellery form and, in a typical middle class Hindu home with a daughter of marriageable age, this was nothing extraordinary," the lawyer said. (Swapna has a 19-year-old daughter.)
"As for the cash, we have clearly shown the source," he added.
