KOCHI: While the current sensational case related to the smuggling of gold through the diplomatic channel seems to have certain similarities with the solar scam from a political angle, the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate (Economic Offences) Court on Monday evaded a major controversy as the court of another had landed in the 2013 case.
Back in 2013, the then magistrate, while considering one of the solar scam cases, decided to record the statement of Saritha Nair. On Monday, the court asked gold smuggling case accused Swapna Suresh to file her confidential submission through her lawyer.
When she was produced at the court, Swapna requested the court to record her submission. The judge asked her to come forward near the witness box. After coming before the witness box, she said she wanted to make a confidential submission.
However, the court asked her to file her submission through her lawyer. “If I record your submission, it will be a statement under Section 164 of CrPC. File it through your lawyer,” the court told her.
Interestingly, a similar incident occurred at the court in 2013 that kicked up a controversy which landed then ruling political leaders in the state in trouble. Saritha Nair, accused in the solar scam case, had requested the court to make a confidential submission.
The then additional chief judicial magistrate called Saritha to the chamber and recorded her statement. The magistrate later had to appear before the Justice (retired) G Sivarajan Commission to explain his decision to allow Saritha to make such a confidential submission.