Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan’s office involved in gold smuggling case

Main accused Swapna Suresh and Sandeep Nair arrested by NIA

On the one hand, China’s Communist party is killing Indian soldiers on the joint borders, and on the other, its comrade-in-arms CPI (M) is indulging in smuggling gold to weaken the economy of India.

Is this the ‘Clean Government’ which was promised by CPI (M) while contesting the Assembly elections ? CM’s Principal Secretary M Sivasankar would not dare to commit such a crime unless assured of protection.

New Delhi – Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President JP Nadda on 12^th July attacked the Pinarayi Vijayan-led Government in Kerala questioning its involvement in a high-profile gold smuggling case. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) nabbed two main accused – Swapna Prabha Suresh and her accomplice Sandeep Nair – in the case.

While addressing party workers in Kerala via video conference, JP Nadda asked, “What is the relationship between the IT officer and personal secretary of the Chief Minister ? We can see the heat in CM’s office also. Chief Minister Vijayan wrote to Prime Minister saying that no stone should remain unturned as far as the investigation is concerned. It means the office of CM is also involved somewhere”.

In a major haul of gold smuggled into Kerala, customs officers at Thiruvananthpuram International Airport on 4^th July seized gold worth more than Rs. 13 crore. The gold brought in the cargo was addressed to a Consulate office in Manacaud, Thiruvananthpuram.

NIA begins probe

The Union Home Ministry on 9^th July ordered an NIA probe into the seizure soon after an audio recording of the accused Swapna Suresh admitting her links to the UAE Consulate came out.

The gold smuggling case has assumed political dimensions in Kerala as the accused was alleged to have access to the office of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan through her work connections with State IT secretary who has been divested of that charge following the reports.

Swapna, a former secretary at the UAE Consulate in Thiruvananthapuram and later an executive with Kerala’s Information Technology Department, was on the run. NIA said “The accused are being examined and will be arrested in due course”.

Shifting focus to the coronavirus situation in the southern State, JP Nadda said that Pinarayi Vijayan Government has messed up the COVID-19 crisis in Kerala.

“They tried to suppress actual figures, even Indian Medical Association (IMA) and doctors came out saying that we should increase testing but the State Government’s attitude was always negative”, he added.