THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Crime Branch probing a complaint of an Air India employee against former Air India SATS (AISATS) vice-president Binoy Jacob and Swapna Suresh who was its former employee, submitted a petition in the Chief Judicial Magistrate court in Thiruvananthapuram seeking to record the confidential statements of witnesses in the case.
The Crime Branch team is investigating a complaint filed by Air India staffer L S Sibu, who had alleged that signatures of 16 female employees of AISATS were forged to implicate him in a sexual harassment case.
Air India SATS is a 50:50 joint venture between the national airline company and SATS Limited for ground handling services. The investigating team had found evidence of the involvement of Swapna Suresh and Binoy Jacob in the case.
The investigation team will soon record the statements of 16 female employees who were working in Air India SATS during the period of complaint against Sibu as per Section 164. The Crime Branch decided to record the confidential statements as the officers are to submit the chargesheet soon. “If the court permits, we will record their statements at the earliest,” a senior officer said.
The Crime Branch had earlier arraigned former AISATS vice-president Binoy Jacob as the first accused and Swapna as the second accused. Regarding Swapna’s involvement in the case, Crime Branch sources said she had ably assisted Binoy to prepare the fake complaint and forged signatures of 16 woman staff in it.
They decided to forge a complaint as Sibu had exposed many corruption involved in Air India SATS under Binoy’s administration. The case was first probed by the Crime Detachment Cell and was later taken over by the Crime Branch.
The FIR against Binoy and Swapna was registered on March 15, 2016, by Valiyathura police on the basis of Sibu’s complaint. Later, the Crime Branch took over the case. Swapna was interrogated in February this year.