Jaleel seeks police probe into ‘conspiracy’ behind Swapna Suresh’s charges against Kerala CM

PTI, Jun 8, 2022, 3:45 PM IST

Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala MLA and former minister K T Jaleel on Wednesday approached the police seeking a probe into the alleged conspiracy behind the fresh allegations levelled against Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and his family by key accused in the gold smuggling case, Swapna Suresh, even as opposition Congress warned of legal action if the inquiry did not proceed in the right direction. Jaleel, who had held the higher education portfolio in the first Pinarayi Vijayan ministry, was among the handful of other high profile persons besides CM and his family, against whom Suresh had levelled serious charges on Tuesday.

After submitting a complaint at the Cantonment police station here against Suresh, the Thavanur MLA said the prime accused was raising ‘false and fabricated’ allegations and there was a clear conspiracy behind her move to come with the charges now after an interval.

Her attempt was to destabilize the Left government through false propaganda and it was not the first time that she was coming up with similar charges, he told reporters outside the police station.

”She had been in jail for one and half years. Even the central agencies who are probing the case could not find anything so far,” Jaleel claimed.

Suresh, after appearing before a magistrate court in Kochi, had dropped a bombshell on Tuesday claiming she gave a statement under Section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure narrating the role of CM, some of his family members and top bureaucrats in various smuggling activities, which Vijayan and the ruling LDF categorically rejected.

Extending complete support to the CM, senior CPI(M) leader and LDF Convener E P Jayarajan today said the charges were deliberately fabricated and some secret forces were behind the move.

Pointing fingers at the BJP, he urged the state government to launch a comprehensive probe to expose the conspiracy behind the prime accused’ revelations.

Jayarajan also rubbised the opposition’s demand for the CM’s resignation in the wake of the allegations.

”Resignation for what? Someone is deliberately cooking up stories to tarnish the image of the Chief Minister and dent his popularity. Do you think the LDF will collapse if someone says something?” he asked.

Echoing the same sentiments, CPI state secretary Kanam Rajendran said he and his party were rejecting with contempt the charges levelled against the CM and his family.

”It was a case investigated by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) for one and half years. Who else other than the media will give importance to the allegations raised by an accused? If she has any evidence, she can submit the same before the Enforcement Directorate,” he told the media.

However, Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly, V D Satheesan wondered why the central agencies had not investigated the statement given by Suresh along with evidence against the CM during their probe.

The probe in the gold smuggling case stopped midway following a settlement between the Marxist party leadership and the Sangh Parivar forces through middlemen, he alleged.

”We are seriously looking forward to seeing the stand to be taken by the central agencies in the case in the wake of the fresh revelations. The charges should be probed. If it is not probed, we will surely explore legal ways to fight it. Protest campaigns will also be strengthened,” he said.

The sensational gold smuggling case that had rocked Kerala before the Assembly polls last year has returned to haunt the ruling LDF with Suresh on Tuesday levelling certain allegations against Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, his family members and some top bureaucrats.

While the Chief Minister dismissed as ”baseless,” Suresh’s allegations of some sort of smuggling activities against him and the others, main opposition Congress demanded his resignation from the state’s top post.

The BJP too said that Vijayan has lost the moral right to continue as the chief minister of the state. Swapna Suresh was released from jail in November last year, 16 months after her arrest in the sensational gold smuggling case.

A former employee of the UAE Consulate here, she was taken into custody by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) along with another accused Sandeep Nair from Bengaluru on July 11, 2020.

The NIA, Enforcement Directorate (ED) and Customs conducted a separate probe into the racket that was busted with the seizure of gold worth Rs 15 crore from the diplomatic baggage of the UAE Consulate at Thiruvananthapuram airport on July 5, 2020.

Several people, including M Sivasankar, the former Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister and another ex-employee of the UAE Consulate here, Sarith P S, were arrested in connection with the case.