The Kerala government has locked horns against the Enforcement Directorate (ED), a central agency, which is probing the gold smuggling case.
The State Crime Branch has filed a case against the ED, for allegedly creating false evidence against Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in the sensational gold smuggling case.
A First Information Report (FIR) was registered by the Crime Branch on an allegation that Swapna Suresh was forced to give a false statement incriminating Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in the case. Swapna is a key accused in the 2020 case involving gold smuggling via diplomatic channels in Kerala.
FALSE STATEMENT?
According to reports, the Crime Branch’s FIR states that on 12 and 13 August 2020, Enforcement Directorate officials had questioned Swapna Suresh and during this interrogation, the FIR says, ED sleuths forced her to give a false statement about the CM’s involvement in the case, in order to fabricate evidence.
The FIR has been lodged under Sections 120B (Criminal conspiracy), 167 (public servant framing an incorrect document with intent to cause injury), 192 (fabricating false evidence) 195 A (coercing any person to give false evidence) of the Indian Penal Code
HOW DID IT START?
It started months ago, as the Crime Branch began a probe into a voice note allegedly of Swapna Suresh, in which she claimed that the ED officials forced her to give a statement against CM Pinarayi. Swapna, too, had reportedly confirmed that the voice in the clip belonged to her.
Following this, a woman Civil Police Officer in Kerala also gave a statement that the ED had forced Swapna to give a statement against the Chief Minister.
The woman CPO – Siji Vijayan – made the statement before a special probe team of Kerala police that is inquiring about a voice clip.
She made the statement after the ED filed an affidavit in the Kerala High Court claiming that Swapna gave a statement ‘about smuggling of foreign currency at the instance of the Chief Minister and the Assembly Speaker with the help of the Consulate’.
“The questions were posed by ED officials in such a way that it forced Swapna to name the Chief Minister,” the CPO said in the statement.
Following this, another woman police officer, who was on security duty while Swapna was being interrogated came forward and stated that Swapna had been forced to name the Chief Minister in the case.
MORE DETAILS
The woman cop, reportedly, testified that she had heard an ED officer by the name of Radhakrishnan offering to make Swapna an approver in the case if she testified against the Chief Minister.
The cop, according to reports, alleged that the ED officer wanted Swapna to testify that the cash found in the locker of her bank was handed over to her by M Sivasankar, former Principal Secretary to the chief minister, and that the cash was given to Sivasankar by the CM himself.
The case was registered two days ago on the basis of a report filed by the Crime Branch team.
ED sources have told PTI that they have no information about registration of the case and would anyhow face it legally.
(This piece was originally published in The News Minute and has been republished with permission. Read the original story here.)
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)