Anurag Thakur slams Kerala CM over gold smuggling case, accuses him of misusing power

Union minister Anurag Thakur on Saturday hit out at Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan for his alleged involvement in the Kerala gold smuggling scam case. Stating that Swapna Suresh has alleged the involvement of the Chief Minister in the case, Thakur said that Vijayan is misusing his position and power to clear his name from the matter. Notably, the Union minister’s statement came while he is on a one-day visit to Kochi. 

“Charges against him (Kerala Chief Minister) are being levelled by one of the accused in the gold smuggling case. He is clearly misusing his position and power,” Union minister Anurag Thakur was quoted as saying. 

Alleging the involvement of Vijayan in the gold smuggling scam case, Thakur said, “Kerala Chief Minister himself is embroiled in the scam. Swapna Suresh, one of the accused in the case, has made direct allegations against him and his family. What else is left? In Kerala, people are being thrashed and media houses are ransacked.” 

Swapna Suresh reiterates CM’s role

In an exclusive conversation with Republic, Swapna Suresh, the prime accused in both the Kerala gold smuggling and the LIFE Mission cases, opened up on the cases and accused Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and his family of ‘selling off Kerala’. She further Kerala Chief Minister, his wife Kamala, and daughter Veena of handling the monetary transactions in the LIFE Mission and gold smuggling scams. 

Notably, the gold smuggling case came to light in July 2020 after Customs officials at Thiruvananthapuram airport seized a diplomatic bag addressed to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) consulate following a tip-off that it was being used to smuggle gold. The bag arrived on a chartered flight from the UAE and contained 30kg of gold.

Following the investigation, M Shivasankar was found to be allegedly connected to the accused in the scam. He was then suspended by the state government from the post of Chief Minister’s principal secretary. 

CM's ex-principal secretary arrested

Amid the ongoing probe in the Kerala gold smuggling case, former principal secretary to Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan M Shivasankar was arrested by the ED in connection with the LIFE Mission project on Tuesday, February 14. 

Last year, the investigation agency accused Sivasankar of influencing other accused and using state machinery to fabricate false cases against the investigating officer in connection to the smuggling case. The agency also alleged that the Kerala government’s machinery turned against the Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials after Sivasankar's role was detected in the smuggling case and false cases were registered against them to derail the probe.