Kochi: Swapna Suresh, one of the prime accused in the sensational diplomatic gold smuggling case, levelled another set of accusations against Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Thursday.

The Kerala CM and his family members were involved in nefarious and anti-national activities which took place at the UAE Consulate in Thiruvananthapuram, she alleged. 

Swapna stated this in the anticipatory bail plea submitted to the High Court. She added that she was pressurised to not reveal these facts to the central agencies, but she decided to disclose the information to the court after the harassment and immense pressure mounted.

ADVERTISEMENT

"I feel threatened by the police. The Customs Department has deliberately buried my secret statement without due follow up," she said.

"The chief minister's messenger has approached me. A person named, Shaj Kiran, reached the Palakkad office and asked me to withdraw my secret statement. He asked me to withdraw my statement before 10 am today. He added that he was meeting the CM and the DGP at the same time," Swapna said.

Swapna added that he threatened to slap serious charges on Swapna and Sarith if she did not oblige to his demands.

ADVERTISEMENT

'I have an audio clip of the conversation with me," she said.

Swapna also informed that M Sivasankar had introduced Shaji Kiran to him.

Gold smuggling case accused Swapna Suresh and P S Sarith are trying for an anticipatory bail from the High Court to avoid arrest following former minister K T Jaleel's complaint against their recent claims against him.

ADVERTISEMENT

Swapna and Sarith were colleagues at the Thiruvananthapuram Consulate of the United Arab Emirates. It was in mid-2020 that the Customs busted a smuggling racket linked to the consulate. The probe revealed that consular staff were hand in glove with gold smugglers in Kerala and the Middle East. They used the diplomatic baggage to carry out smuggling. Money laundering also was likely attempted by the syndicate that enjoyed political patronage. 

Swapna and Sarith are currently out on bail in the gold smuggling case.

TAGS

The comments posted here/below/in the given space are not on behalf of Onmanorama. The person posting the comment will be in sole ownership of its responsibility. According to the central government's IT rules, obscene or offensive statement made against a person, religion, community or nation is a punishable offense, and legal action would be taken against people who indulge in such activities.