Kochi, June 7 (BPNS)
Swapna Suresh, prime accused in the 2020 gold smuggling case, gave her secret statement about the people involved, including the state Chief Minister, before a Judicial First Class Court on Monday. She also revealed that the chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan and his family were involed in the gold smuggling scam.
Swapna Suresh told media that a suitcase containing money was sent to Chief Minister Vijayan when he was in Dubai in 2016. In her statement,164 she informed the court about the involvement of the chief minister, his former chief secretary M. Sivashankar, wife KM Kamala, daughter Veena, his additional private secretary C.M. Ravendran, former bureaucrat Nalini Netto, and former minister K. T. Jaleel.
“It all began way back in 2016 when the CM was on a trip to UAE. It was then that Sivasankar contacted me first since I was the secretary in the consulate. He told me the chief minister had forgotten to take one of his bags and it had to be taken to Dubai immediately. We sent the bag to the CM through a diplomat in the consulate. When it was brought to the consulate we found that there was currency in it. That’s how it all started,” Swapna said while responding to the media after her 164 statement.
She said that currency was detected when the bag was scanned as part of the consulate’s security protocol, that was sent to Chief Minister. She said that biryani vessels with heavy metals were taken from the consulate general’s house to the Cliff House based on the instructions of Sivashankar.
Swapna had approached the Special Court yesterday, to record her statement under Section 164 of CrPC in the money laundering case related to the gold smuggling case probed by the enforcement directorate (ED). Following her petition, the special court assigned the Ernakulam Chief Judicial Magistrate Court to assign a magistrate to record her statement.
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