KOCHI: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) questioned Higher Education Minister K T Jaleel for seven hours as part of a probe into the smuggling of gold through the baggage addressed to a diplomat in the UAE Consulate in Thiruvananthapuram even as his attempts to reach the NIA office secretively fell flat on Thursday.
The minister's interrogation by a second national agency, within a span of six days, added spark to Opposition parties' protests which turned violent in several parts of the state, including in front of the NIA office at Girinagar.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had questioned him last week.
Jaleel attempted to evade the attention of the media and the general public while arriving at the NIA office, but he failed this time. Last week, he managed to reach the ED office clandestinely.
Like on the previous occasion, he opted for a private car, rather than his official vehicle, to reach the interrogation venue.
Jaleel stayed at the PWD Rest House in Kalamassery and reached the NIA office in a Toyota Etios car -- KL 07 CD 6444 -- owned by former MLA and CPM leader A M Yousuf.
Interestingly, the NIA notice to Jaleel to appear on Thursday was dated September 12 (last Saturday), a day after he was questioned by the ED. Though the letter to the minister asked him to appear at 10 am, sources said he was told to be present at 9 am over the phone.
Jaleel reached the NIA office premises at 5.55 am and sat inside the car for a few minutes before coming out.
The questioning started around 9 am, after investigation officer C Radhakrishna Pillai reached the NIA office by 8.20 am, and lasted until 4 pm.
He then waited for an hour or so for the police to clear the way through the storm of protests outside the NIA office before coming out.
Meanwhile, the minister's official vehicle was moved from the PWD Rest House in Kalamassery to the Government Guest House in Kochi.
However, to avoid questions from the press, he alighted from the private car on the way to the Guest House, got into another private vehicle, and left for Thiruvananthapuram via the Thevara-Kundanoor road.
NIA will summon him again if further clarification is required, an officer told TNIE.
"Recording the statement of a person is a preliminary part of the probe. Based on the given statement, a probe has to be conducted before deciding whether to implicate the person or to give a clean chit," the officer said.
The agency questioned Jaleel regarding copies of the Quran he received from the UAE Consulate during Ramzan.
He admitted that around 300 copies were received and transported to various parts of the state in vehicles belonging to the Kerala State Centre for Advanced Printing and Training (C-APT).
However, agencies probing the incident had found that over 7,000 copies were imported by the UAE Consulate.
Questions were also asked about the phone call details of the key accused, Swapna Suresh, which had revealed that she contacted Jaleel around 13 times before July this year. Recently, NIA had completed the analysis of data retrieved from her mobile phone and laptops.
NIA has also retrieved some content deleted from the digital devices seized from her.
With around 50 policemen deployed near the NIA office, security was tight and all roads leading to the NIA office were barricaded.
Following ED and NIA, the Customs is set to quiz Jaleel after having started a separate probe into the import of the Quran by the UAE Consulate availing duty exemption granted to foreign missions and diplomats in India.
Another probe is underway for the import of 17 tonnes of dates by the consulate.
As per norms, the goods imported by a foreign consulate availing duty exemption should be for the use of diplomats or the office of the mission.
If such goods are supplied outside, it is considered duty evasion.
"We consider the duty evasion involved in the import of the Quran as a separate case. It is probed by a separate Customs team. Jaleel has to be quizzed for both the gold smuggling and the Quran import incidents. People outside the consulate accepting goods that were imported availing duty exemption to diplomats is also an evasion of duty," a Customs officer said.
Earlier, protests staged near the NIA office turned violent after the BJP, Mahila Morcha, Congress and the Youth Congress took out rallies.
They were blocked by the police before reaching the NIA office premises. BJP and Mahila Morcha activists shouted slogans congratulating NIA and demanded the resignation of Jaleel.
All protesters were arrested and removed.
Youth Congress activists were booked for destroying the windowpane of a police vehicle.