THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A day after Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's former principal secretary M Sivasnakar was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate, BJP has come out with a serious allegation that besides the IAS officer, two senior officials in the Chief Minister's Office had intervened in the gold smuggling case.
BJP president K Surendran told reporters here on Thursday that the two officials were in touch with Customs to release the seized gold that arrived through the diplomatic channel. Surendran also alleged that two ministers in the LDF cabinet, who were close confidants of Pinarayi, had close links with the gold smugglers. However, Surendran did not name the officials in the CMO or the ministers against whom the allegations were raised.
The BJP leader said the gold smuggling accused had considerable influence in the Chief Minister's Office and had visited the Secretariat many times. Surendran called Chief Minister PInarayi Vijayan the kingpin of the gold smuggling racket and demanded his resignation.
"It is to be noted that it was the Chief Minister who introduced gold smuggling accused Swapna Suresh to Sivasankar and not the other way around. The Chief Minister and people close to him have been the beneficiaries of gold smuggling and other shady deals carried out by the accused," Surendran said
The BJP leader demanded that Central agencies should examine the role of Pinarayi in the entire episode in the wake of Sivasankar's admission that he had called the Customs to secure the release of smuggled gold. It was at Pianrayi's behest that Sivasankar contacted Customs, he alleged.