Gold smuggling accused Swapna gets further relief from court; Sarith, Ramees released on bail

Gold smuggling case: Swapna gets further relief from court; Sarith, Ramees released on bail
Swapna Suresh

Kochi: Swapna Suresh, prime accused in the Thiruvananthapuram gold smuggling case, who got bail early this month, was on Tuesday granted further relaxations and permitted to go out of Ernakulam district.

Swapna, who is a resident of Thiruvananthapuram district, can now travel outside of Ernakulam district, but she cannot travel outside the state, as per her bail conditions.

She had been granted bail by the High Court of Kerala on November 2 after almost 16 months in jail.

The bail came in the case registered against her by the National Investigation Agency (NIA). As she had also secured bail in other cases registered against her, Swapna was able to come out of prison early this month.

Sarith, Ramees released on bail

Meanwhile, the other accused in the case - Sarith P S, Ramees, Jalal Muhammed and Shafi - were on Tuesday released from Poojapura Central Jail as their one-year preventive detention period under the provisions of the COFEPOSA ended and they secured bail in other cases from the court. Their release came after nearly 1 year and four months.

Gold smuggling case: Swapna gets further relief from court; Sarith, Ramees released on bail
Sarith, Swapna Suresh and Sandeep Nair

The smuggling case came to light on July 5, 2020, when the Customs arrested Sarith, a former employee of the UAE Consulate here, for allegedly smuggling gold in diplomatic baggage destined for the Consulate.

Swapna Suresh, who previously worked in the UAE Consulate, her colleague Sarith P S and associate Sandeep Nair were arrested in the case by the NIA from Bengaluru a few days later.

(With PTI inputs)

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