THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Kerala chief minister’s office (CMO) came under intense scrutiny on Monday after it came to light that Swapna Suresh, a key suspect in the attempt to smuggle 30kg gold in a diplomatic consignment bound for UAE Consulate General through the Thiruvananthapuram airport, was employed in Space Park that comes under the IT department. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan handles the IT portfolio and IT secretary M Sivasankar’s role in her appointment as the liaison officer of the park even when she was facing a Crime Branch probe in a fake complaint case has come into question.
The state government removed Swapna, a former executive secretary at the UAE consulate, from her Space Park post on Monday saying her job was on a contract basis. The Opposition launched a scathing attack on the CM. While Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala described Pinarayi’s office as the epicentre of scams, BJP state president K Surendran said the CMO and the IT secretary exerted pressure on customs to hush up Swapna’s role.
The customs officials revealed that Swapna is on the run while Sarith Kumar, a former consulate PRO, was arrested. He was produced at the economic offences court in Kochi and was remanded for 14 days. It is suspected that though Sarith was expelled from the Consulate, he maintained a strong relationship with some of the officials there and also Swapna. Since he knew that the diplomatic baggage would not be subject to detailed scrutiny, he used the channel to smuggle in gold worth `13.5 crore. Swapna also allegedly used her connections in the Consulate to get things cleared.
A senior customs officer told TNIE that Sarith is the mastermind as per preliminary findings, but the woman was also actively involved in smuggling. “We assume this is not the first time they used the diplomatic channel to smuggle gold into the state. We’re in the process of extracting the details of their previous attempts,” he said. The UAE Consulate said neither the office nor its staff has any role in the alleged smuggling. “A private person has misused his diplomatic facility and the Consulate strongly condemned the act,” it said. Meanwhile, in a hurriedly convened press conference, Surendran said: “You just need to check the telephone call records of the CMO and IT secretary to find their involvement in the case.”
‘GOLD SMUGGLED 15 TIMES IN SIMILAR OPs’
T’Puram: The probe into gold smuggling through diplomatic channels has revealed that the racket, whose member Sarith Kumar was picked up by the Customs department on Sunday, had brought in large quantities of gold in 15 similar operations in the past. Gold was smuggled in through Thiruvananthapuram airport eight times, while the rest of the operations were carried out via Kochi airport, sources revealed.
CRIME BRANCH PROBE AGAINST SWAPNA
T’Puram: Swapna Suresh is facing a Crime Branch probe for framing an Air India official in a sexual harassment case. L S Sibu, working in Apron, ground service department, Air India, in Hyderabad, told TNIE that he had to suffer a lot on account of Swapna’s fraudulent activity. He also had to stay away from work for nearly two years to prove his innocence as he had exposed many financial irregularities in Air India SATS.