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Updated March 5th, 2021 at 16:43 IST

Kerala: Congress demands CM's scalp after accused's claim; alleges 'BJP-CPI(M) conspiracy'

After gold smuggling scam accused Swapna Suresh's serious allegations against Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan, the Congress party demanded his immediate resignation.

Reported by: Akhil Oka
Pinarayi Vijayan
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After gold smuggling scam accused Swapna Suresh's serious allegations against Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan, the Congress party demanded his immediate resignation. In an affidavit submitted before the Kerala High Court on Friday, Customs and Preventive Commissioner Sumit Kumar claimed that Suresh talked about the smuggling of foreign currency at the instance of Vijayan and the Assembly Speaker with the help of the UAE Consulate. This dollar smuggling case pertains to the alleged smuggling of 1.9 lakh US dollars by a former finance head of the UAE Consulate in Thiruvananthapuram to Muscat in Oman. 

Moreover, he expressed willingness to provide copies of her statement recorded under Section 144 of the CrPC. Contending that his activities amount to "sedition", Leader of Opposition in the Kerala Assembly Ramesh Chennithala opined that the CPI(M) leader had no right to continue in his chair. Moreover, he alleged that agencies went slow on the case after the Kerala CM wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. According to him, the Customs had filed the affidavit very late and intentionally concealed Suresh's statement owing to a conspiracy hatched by BJP and CPI(M) together. 

Read: Kerala Polls: CM Steps Up Attack On BJP For 'violating' ECI's Moral Code Of Conduct

CPI(M)'s woes compound

The sensational development on Friday comes even as the Kerala government has been facing heat in the gold smuggling scam ahead of the Assembly polls. On July 5, 2020, Customs officials seized 30 kg of gold worth Rs.15 crore at the Thiruvananthapuram Airport from a diplomatic cargo addressed to a person in the UAE Consulate. Sarith PS who worked at the UAE Consulate was arrested in this regard. Reportedly, he told the Customs about the role of Swapna Suresh, an ex-Consulate employee working as the manager of the Kerala State Information Technology Infrastructure Limited. 

Following the backlash over her appointment, she was sacked by the state government. On July 16, Vijayan announced that the suspension of his former Principal Secretary M Sivasankar pending the departmental inquiry. It was reportedly found that he had violated the All-India Services Conduct rules due to his connections with the gold smuggling accused. In January 2020, the NIA filed a chargesheet before the Special Court.

Claiming that the conspiracy started in June 2019, the agency alleged that the aforesaid persons raised funds and smuggled 167 kg of gold between November 2019 and June 2020 through the import cargo addressed to diplomats at the Consulate General of UAE in Thiruvananthapuram. Moreover, it added that the main accused had planned to smuggle more gold from countries such as Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Malaysia. Holding them responsible for threatening the "economic security of India", the agency revealed that the probe against absconding persons and others who facilitated the crime is underway.

Read: After Declaring 'Metro Man' Sreedharan As BJP’s Kerala CM Pick; MoS Muraleedharan Retracts

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Published March 5th, 2021 at 16:43 IST

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