THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The state crime branch on Friday arrested the gold smuggling accused Swapna Suresh, the former executive secretary at the UAE Consulate in Thiruvananthapuram, in a forgery case.
The case pertains to the forging of signatures of 16 women employees of Air India-SATS which were then used to cook up a sexual harassment complaint against an Air India whistleblower. The arrest has been recorded at the Women's prison at Attakulangara.
The sleuths have also submitted a petition in the Thiruvananthapuram judicial first class magistrate seeking the custody of Swpana for further interrogation. The court will consider the petition soon.
Swapna has been named as the second accused in the case while former Air India-SATS vice-president Binoy Jacob is arraigned as the first accused.
Earlier, the crime branch had filed a report in the court naming her as an accused on the basis of evidence that proved that she had forged documents and produced fake witnesses before the Internal Complaint Cell of Air India to implicate one of its staffers in sexual harassment case. She has been charged for forgery, impersonation and cheating.
The crime branch is investigating the complaint filed by L S Sibu, a whistleblower in Air India, who had alleged that he was being framed for exposing corruption in Air India. The sexual harassment complaint was signed by 17 female staff of Air India-SATS.
However, the Crime Branch found that the complaint was fake and 16 of these signatures were forged. During the hearing before the internal complaint cell, a woman had testified after impersonating as one of the victims of the harassment, the Crime Branch found out. The case was first probed by the Crime Detachment Cell and was later taken over by the Crime Branch. The complainant, Sibu, said the fake complaint had affected his life.