New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate has decided to hand over the secret statement of gold smuggling accused Swapna Suresh against Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan to the Supreme Court of India.
The central agency had approached the Supreme Court to seek nod t. The ED informed the top court of its decision during the hearing of a plea to transfer the case to the jurisdiction of a Bengaluru court.
Swapna's statement, which will be submitted to the court in a sealed envelope, will not be made public. The confidential statement given under IPC Section 164 by Swapna was recorded in the Ernakulam Principal Sessions Court on June 6 and 7.
The plea seeking the apex court permission to transfer the case was filed by the ED assistant director for the Kochi zone. Top Kerala bureaucrat M Sivasankar and his former associate Swapna Suresh are among the accused in the case.
The ED also informed the top court that M Sivasankar attempted to influence Sandeep Nair, an accused in the case. After he was released from custody, Sandeep had said that the ED coerced him to state that Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, K T Jaleel and P Sreeramakrishnan, and that Sivasankar were innocent.
Why shift case out of Kerala ?
The agency wants a court outside Kerala to consider the money laundering case linked to the sensational diplomatic gold smuggling case as it fears bid to scuttle the case by influencing witnesses.
It is alleged that police-jail authorities had threatened Swapna against revealing the names of big-wigs while she was in judicial custody.
After the ED filed a petition, the High Court had quashed the Crime Branch's FIRs but directed to hand over the information collected, hindering the probe and trial.
Plea based on report
The ED had checked the copy of the confidential statement given by Swapna Suresh at the Ernakulam principal sessions court. A report was also submitted to the Enforcement Directorate in New Delhi that the case would be scuttled if it is in Kerala. After the legal experts at the directorate also checked the copy of the statement, it was decided to submit the plea for transfer.
The Ernakulam principal sessions court had considered all petitions in this case till now. The same court had granted permission to record Swapna's confidential statements. There are five other courts in Kochi, Kozhikode and Thiruvananthapuram that can hear ED's cases. But if the case is in Kerala, the ED reckons that the witnesses are likely to be influenced and that the probe officers could face pressure.
