Swapna Suresh has 'no fear of arrest' as she appears before crime branch in case by Jaleel

The prime accused in the Kerala gold smuggling case, Swapna Suresh, appeared before the Crime Branch for interrogation on Tuesday regarding the conspiracy case filed against her by former minister KT Jaleel.

While speaking to the reporters, Suresh said, "I have no fear of arrest. I didn't do anything to be afraid of. It is a fake case, charged overnight. It was initially bailable but was later made non-bailable. Let me face it."

CPI (M) leader KT Jaleel filed a complaint on June 8 this year asking for an investigation into the accusations Swapna made against him in the gold smuggling case, alleging that she conspired and made defamatory statements against him. Thiruvananthapuram cantonment police have registered a case against Swapna under Section 153 and Section 120B.

She excused herself from the Crime Branch Interrogation earlier this week by claiming that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) had asked her to appear in the gold smuggling case.

Suresh accused Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan of lying in the assembly when discussing the gold smuggling case. She has accused the latter and his family of being involved in the scam.  Suresh requested him to make the CCTV footage of Cliff House and the Secretariat from 2016 to 2020 public.

She said, "Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan talked a lot of things at the Assembly. It came to my notice that he had told a lot of lies in order to mislead the public by standing in a very sacred place... The Chief Minister said that he has often seen me with the Consul General. There is no MEA approval for such meetings. All these meetings were facilitated through me by his point of contact, that is Sivasankar. All these meetings are against the protocol."

Suresh also said, "After 7 o’clock at night along with the Consul General, I went to Cliff House for secret meetings for their requirements. Also, I had gone alone there earlier. You can see in those visuals that there was no security check for me to go there. It is not ethical to mislead people by standing in the Assembly with so many blatant lies like saying that you do not know Swapna Suresh."

Threatening calls are being received, I don't know how long I'll live

Informing the media that she is being threatened, Swapna Suresh said on Sunday, "I don't know how long will I live. Threatening calls are being received since yesterday. The callers also revealed their names and address...Their demand is to stop mentioning the names of the Chief Minister, his wife, daughter, and former minister KT Jaleel," and added she was threatened of 'elimination' in case she didn't agree to the demands. "I have been receiving strong warnings since yesterday that I will be 100 per cent eliminated from this world," she added.

(With inputs from ANI)