KOCHI: The Enforcement Directorate on Tuesday approached the Kerala High Court seeking a CBI probe into the state Crime Branch’s action of filing a case against certain unnamed agency officials for allegedly forcing Swapna Suresh, prime accused in the gold smuggling and reverse hawala cases, to give statements against Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.
In the petition, P Radhakrishnan, Deputy Director, Enforcement Directorate, Kochi, said the FIR has been registered with an ulterior motive to put pressure on the investigating officers to not only derail the statutory investigation into money laundering committed by highly influential persons but also ensure that the trial is not carried out in a fair and impartial manner.
The FIR has charged the officials with conspiracy, threatening, forging a document and other offences. It was registered on the basis of the statements of two woman civil police officers who were allegedly on guard duty while Swapna was in custody. The alleged statements were made by the constables during an inquiry conducted by the state police into the leakage of an audio recording purportedly containing Swapna’s voice.
M T Suresh Kumar, counsel for the petitioner, said when Swapna was produced before the magistrate court in the money laundering case, she did not make any such complaint of pressure or coercion on her. In fact, when enquired by the magistrate, she had said she did not have any complaints.
M Sivasankar, former principal secretary to the chief minister, now out on bail in the money laundering case, was the mastermind behind the illegal registration of the FIR. He had been influencing other accused and using the state machinery to fabricate false evidence against the ED officials. It was nothing but interference in the ED investigation.