The Kerala High Court on Tuesday asked the State Government as to why the investigation in the Nedumbassery human trafficking case should not be handed over to Central agencies to unearth the role of big sharks in the case.
Justice S S Satheesachandran made the observation while considering the bail plea of Ajeeb, the suspended civil police officer who is the first accused in the case. The Crime Branch has so far arrested only two persons - Ajeeb and Abdul Hameed Savadin - in connection with the case.
The court observed that the two arrested were only small fries involved in the case.
The state prosecutor submitted that the list of the deportees during the period between January 1, 2007 and December 31, 2012, and the details of daily duty deployment of the officials should be verified.
“More witnesses are to be questioned in the case. The statements of police officers who had worked in the CIA Immigration wing should also be recorded. After obtaining the details of the daily duty deployment and list of deportees further questioning of the accused, travel agents and employees, including police officers of CIAL, are necessary to find out the real culprits.
The court also said that they cannot rule out the possibility of the racket helping terrorists escape through the Cochin International Airport.
Ajeeb is part of the racket and had allegedly amassed wealth amounting to crores. The prosecution submitted that Ajeeb had five SIM cards in his possession. Of this, three cards were taken in the names of three other people by submitting their passport details without their knowledge.
He had joined the Nedumbassery Immigration Wing in 2003, but was transferred out soon. However, he managed to come back to the airport in 2007 and continued there till 2011.
Earlier, it was found that `59 lakh was credited to the bank account of Ajeeb’s father, and `6 lakh to his wife’s account. This was believed to deposited by the racketeers, the police submitted.
“The original challan receipts of the remittance of cash into the account of his father are to be collected from various banks. The persons, who had deposited money in his father’s account, are to be questioned thoroughly,” it said.
The Crime Branch also submitted that investigation should be conducted to find out the source of income of Ajeeb, his father and his wife, which was mentioned in the statements of different banks and financial institutions.