THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Crime Branch has sought permission from the Ernakulam Judicial Magistrate Court to record the confessions of gold smuggling accused Sandeep Nair under Section 164 of CrPC.The Crime Branch on Friday had recorded the statements of Sandeep, who is currently lodged in the Central Prison in Poojapura. The Crime Branch had initiated a probe into the alleged arm-twisting of Sandeep by the Enforcement Directorate to give statements against the chief minister and a few other ministers in the reverse hawala case.
The request moved by Crime Branch DySP Baiju Paulose M said the statements given by Sandeep were significant and there was a possibility that he might be lured into retracting his statement during trial.
As per the application moved by Paulose, Sandeep had testified that he was pressured by the ED officials to give statements against Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, Speaker P Sreeramakrishnan, Minister K T Jaleel and Bineesh Kodiyeri, son of former CPM state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan. Sandeep was pressured while he was in ED custody in Ernakulam and later while he was being questioned by the ED sleuths in Central Prison, Poojapura.