THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Three days after the gold smuggling through the Trivandrum International Airport came to light, the prime accused Swapna Suresh gave a clean chit to the Chief Minister, former IT secretary, Speaker of the assembly and other prominent leaders and ministers in the state government.
In an audio tape released to the media from her hideout on Wednesday, she said, “I have contacted almost all ministers in the Left cabinet at various point of time in connection with different programmes. But you cannot do anything against them or the government as they are innocent. I have no role in the gold smuggling. The only thing I have done was that I have contacted the AC (assistant commissioner of customs) when the consignment was withheld by the customs officials. I contacted the officials upon the request from the Consulate. Other than this, I have no connection with the incident and I was not a witness to any other incidents,” she said.
In the audio tape, she also said, “The present drama is aimed at the ensuing elections. But this will not do any harm to the state government. Instead, a family including mother, father and two children would be affected by the controversy and they would be the losers at the end,” she said.
She also said that she and her family were on the brink of suicide. If any such thing happens, the media will be responsible for it, she added. Swapna said she chose to stay in hiding only because of the fear of what would happen to her.
(If you are having suicidal thoughts, or are worried about a friend or need emotional support, someone is always there to listen. Call Sneha Foundation - 04424640050 (available 24x7) or iCall, the Tata Institute of Social Sciences' helpline - 02225521111, which is available Monday to Saturday from 8 am to 10 pm.)