KOCHI: The Kerala High Court on Wednesday asked the Crime Branch not to proceed with any coercive action in connection with the case filed against the officers of Enforcement Directorate for allegedly forcing Swapna Suresh, prime accused in the gold smuggling case, to give false statement against Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. Though the ED counsel repeatedly prayed for an interim stay on the investigation by Crime Branch, the court declined.
The court also recorded the submission by the state prosecutor that no official witness had been called and would not be called. The government counsel made the submission when it was brought to the attention of the court that the Customs Assistant Commissioner had been called to appear before the police by Aiswarya Dongre, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Kochi. The government counsel made it clear that the IPS officer is not connected with the Crime Branch probe and the submission was wrong.
Justice V G Arun posted further hearing of the petition filed by P Radhakrishnan, Deputy Director, ED, Kochi, seeking to quash the FIR registered by Crime Branch.Appearing for the petitioner, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta submitted that no prejudice will be caused if they halt the investigation for 10 days, hence the investigation should be stayed. The Crime Branch investigation which is going on every day weakens not only the ED’s case but also the Customs and NIA cases. The law never contemplated a situation where one investigation agency is investigating the correctness of another agency. It is a complete abuse of the process of law. The police had registered an FIR days after the ED requested to take action against erring officials allegedly involved in leaking a voice clip of Swapna Suresh to an online portal.
During the hearing, Justice Arun orally observed: “I am convinced that neither Swapna Suresh nor the other accused have raised any complaint of harassment or compelled to give a statement at any point of time before the special judge or High Court.” The observation came when the Solicitor General argued that Swapna Suresh has several opportunities before a neutral forum to raise the complaint if any. She is not an illiterate person without any legal assistance.
She was in the custody of ED from August 5 to 17, 2020, and has never complained about harassment or torture. The Special Court on August 14 had observed that Swapna had no complaints against the probing agency and her only complaint was that no woman police officers were present during the questioning. Hence, the FIR registered against ED is illegal, Mehta argued.
Appearing for the state government, Harin P Raval, Senior Supreme Court Lawyer, submitted that no Customs officials were summoned. A notice has been issued to the Customs officer by the Advocate General on a petition seeking sanction for contempt, and police have not summoned him. He also submitted that the police would continue with the probe into the case but would not take any coercive steps. The FIR registered against ED officials would not affect the probe being conducted by the ED in the PMLA case against Swapna Suresh and others.
He added the ED was creating a smokescreen by filing such a petition. It was an attempt to nip the investigation of the Crime Branch in the bud. While conducting the probe against the accused in the PMLA case, there was an attempt to create false evidence against some highly placed innocent persons. The intention of the petitioner is to tarnish the state government.
CRIME BRANCH TO QUIZ GOLD SMUGGLING ACCUSED
Kochi: The additional sessions court, which is in charge of the Principal Sessions court, on Wednesday granted the Crime Branch permission to question gold smuggling case accused Sandeep Nair in jail, in connection with a case against Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials. The court allowed Crime Branch officials to question Sandeep at the Viyyur Central Jail for two days, after public prosecutor Manoj G Krishnan filed a petition seeking the same. Sandeep had written to the principal sessions court alleging that ED officials had threatened and forced him to give statements indicting the chief minister and three other ministers in the gold smuggling case. Sandeep is currently facing preventive detention under the Conservation of Foreign Exchange and Prevention of Smuggling Activities Act as part of a Customs case.