‘Let me live’, says Swapna Suresh over controversies surrounding new job

PTI, Feb 20, 2022, 7:20 PM IST

Thiruvananthapuram: Gold smuggling case accused Swapna Suresh on Sunday beseeched her detractors to allow her to live and not harass her by creating controversy over her new job in a Kerala-based NGO working for tribal welfare in the state.

Addressing reporters, Suresh said it was disheartening to see the relentless attempts to harass her.

Initially a book was released to harass me and now a controversy is being created around my job, she claimed.

Her reaction comes in the wake of the Kerala State Commission for SC/STs initiating proceedings against NGO Highrange Rural Development Society (HRDS) over complaints alleging they constructed uninhabitable houses for Adivasis in Attappadi and elsewhere.

Suresh told the media that she was appointed as Director, Women empowerment & CSR in the NGO after an interview and not because she had any affiliations to RSS or BJP.

”It is an ordinary job with an ordinary salary of Rs 43,000. It is a source of livelihood for my family. I humbly request not to see it as anything else.

”Let me live. Let me raise my children and take care of my mother. Please do not harass me by creating unnecessary controversies. I have no intention to harm or hurt anyone, so please leave me alone,” she said.

Her employment has snowballed into a political controversy after some social media handles alleged that the NGO is backed by RSS.

However, BJP state president K Surendran has denied the allegations and claimed that the private company was headed by a former leader of SFI.

The NGO has no connection with BJP, Surendran has said.

Suresh, a prime accused in the sensational Kerala gold smuggling case, had earlier criticised M Sivasankar — the CM’s former principal secretary — for allegedly mentioning her name in his new book, claiming that she was ”already a victim.” A day after Sivasankar published an autobiographical book narrating his version of the controversial episode, Suresh had come out against the senior IAS officer, accusing him of ”manipulating, exploiting and destroying” her life.

Suresh, who was released from jail a few months ago after securing bail following her arrest by central agencies in July 2020 in connection with the case of smuggling gold through diplomatic channels, had slammed Sivasankar for claiming that she cheated him by gifting a mobile phone she received as a bribe.

Sivasankar, in the book, claimed that he had made no illegal intervention in the gold smuggling incident and never did any undue favours for Suresh. The officer, in the book, claimed that he was shell-shocked to know that Suresh, who was his close friend for three years, was a participant in smuggling.

The gold smuggling case relates to the seizure of 30 kg of gold on July 5, 2020 from a diplomatic baggage at the air cargo of the Trivandrum International Airport by the Customs (Preventive) Commissionerate, Kochi. The consignment was found camouflaged in diplomatic baggage from the UAE that is exempted from inspection in accordance with the Vienna Convention.