Kerala gold smuggling: Police arrests Swapna Suresh in forgery case, to seek custody

On Thursday, the Kerala Police formally recorded the arrested of the gold smuggling case accused Swapna Suresh at the Kakkanad District Jail regarding the forgery of the degree certificate. It has been alleged she secured the job of operations manager of the Kerala State Information Technology Infrastructure Limited by producing a fake degree certificate. Soon, the Police will approach the court for seeking her custody.   

While she was hired by the Kerala IT Department with the help of a manpower supply agency, it is perceived that suspended IT Secretary M Sivasankar played a key role in her appointment. Following the backlash over her appointment, she was sacked by the state government. On July 12, Suresh was arrested by the National Investigation Agency.  

Read: Kerala Gold Smuggling: Swapna's Bail Plea Rejected; Customs Dept Gives Strong Evidence

Who is Swapna Suresh? 

Swapna Suresh's family was based in Abu Dhabi for many years as her father, a Thiruvananthapuram native was employed there. Having spent her early years in Abu Dhabi, she had a brief stint with the passenger services department at Abu Dhabi Airport. Suresh moved to Kerala in 2010/11 where she worked in a travel agency for two years.  

Thereafter, she secured a job at Air India SATS, a ground-handling agency at the Thiruvananthapuram Airport in 2013. This tenure witnessed controversies such as the ouster of some Air India SATS and Air India officials on sexual harassment charges. She had to quit her job after the Crime Branch registered an FIR against her for forging documents for a fake complaint on the directives of the High Court. When she did not turn up for the interrogation and returned to Abu Dhabi in around 2016, there was speculation that she had political connections. 

Intriguingly, she joined the UAE Consulate in Thiruvananthapuram soon after her airport job. This stint proved to be the turning point for her as she got access to political and bureaucratic circles in the state. As she is fluent in Arabic and several other languages, she was a part of teams of Arab leaders who visited Kerala. Her association with the Consulate ended in 2019. Her role pertaining to the gold smuggling case came to the fore after arrested UAE Consulate employee Sarith Kumar provided information in this regard to the Customs officials.  

Read: Kerala Gold Smuggling Case: NIA Team In Dubai To Question Accused Fazil Fareed

Read: Kerala Gold Smuggling Case: Sarith PS, Swapna Suresh, Sandeep Nair Sent To ED Custody

(Image credits: PTI)