Swapna Suresh: Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan, kin and IAS officers involved in gold smuggling

KOCHI: Swapna Suresh, the prime accused in the case related to gold smuggling through diplomatic channels, on Tuesday leveled serious allegations against chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan, his family members and senior IAS officers, triggering opposition demands for the CM's resignation. She alleged that currency was smuggled to the UAE during Vijayan's Dubai trip in 2016 and big "biryani vessels" containing "metal objects" were sent to the CM's official residence many times from the UAE Consul General's residence.
Vijayan summarily rejected the charges and said there was not an iota of truth in them. He termed them as part of a political agenda against the government and political leadership. Though Swapna had spoken in public about the case and against the CM's former principal secretary M Sivasankar earlier, she is raising allegations against the chief minister for the first time. She got bail after 16 months in jail and had claimed in TV interviews that the ED had not forced her to name the chief minister in the case.
Speaking to the media after giving a confidential statement under Section 164 of CrPC before a magistrate, Swapna told reporters at Ernakulam district court that Vijayan, his wife Kamala, daughter Veena, Sivasankar, former private secretary C M Raveendran, former minister K T Jaleel and former IAS officer Nalini Netto had involvement in gold smuggling through the diplomatic channel.
“Everything started way back in 2016, when the chief minister went to Dubai. That’s when Sivasankar contacted me for the first time. Initially it was regarding the airport, protocol and arrangement. Later he called and said the CM forgot to take a bag with him and the bag has to be taken to Dubai immediately. Then a diplomat from the UAE Consulate was sent to Dubai at the direction of the Consul General carrying the bag. When the bag was screened in the scanning (XRay) machine at the consulate, we understood that the bag contained currency. Also, many times biryani vessels with huge weight -- which means it did not have just biryani but also some sort of metal objects -- were sent in consulate vehicles to the Cliff House by Consul General from his residence in Jawahar Nagar as per Sivasankar's instructions," she said.
Swapna said she had revealed the same things in her previous statements, including those under CrPC 164.