KOCHI: Casting aspersions on the National Investigation Agency (NIA) which is probing the Thiruvananthapuram gold smuggling case, accused Swapna Suresh on Thursday alleged that her iPhone seized by the agency, containing chats and other details on Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s role in the case, was missing.
In her affidavit filed in the High Court, Swapna claimed the phone was not listed in the seizure mahasar.
She said the device contained proof that the then principal secretary M Sivasankar had told her about the CM requesting an NIA probe in the case, saying it would be easy to manipulate records as officers deputed to the agency were of Kerala cadre and were very close to the CM and his party.
Swapna filed the counter affidavit against the government’s petition that opposed her plea to quash the FIR in the conspiracy case registered on the complaint of former minister K T Jaleel. “I am planning to move legally to get all the details back from the phone,” Swapna said. She also alleged that the government registered the conspiracy case with the sole intention to derail the investigations by central agencies.
It was under such circumstances that the Enforcement Directorate moved the Supreme Court recently to transfer the probe and trial of the case from Kerala to Karnataka, she said. The police’s move to register and probe the conspiracy case is aimed at torpedoing the ED investigation, she said.Swapna also accused Jaleel of trying to get a Malayalam daily banned in the Gulf in a bid to get leverage in his party.
“Jaleel had approached me with an edition of Madhyamam which had carried photographs of NRIs who died of Covid in the Gulf. He told me the report should be used to get the newspaper banned, which, in turn, would give him leverage in the party,” said Swapna.
‘He requested my help to be in good books of UAE rulers’
Swapna said Jaleel also sent a letter to the then Sharjah ruler seeking a ban on the newspaper. According to Swapna, the letter said the report will “defame Arab rulers and citizens who have been showering benevolence and help on people across the globe, especially the citizens of Kerala, for centuries.” She said Jaleel had also requested her to help him ensure that he was in the good books of the rulers of the UAE. “Jaleel told me that he was taking these steps as suggested by the consul-general.
It was so that the diplomat could carry out more activities through the consulate by misusing the diplomatic channel,” she said. She said when she told the diplomat of Jaleel’s requirement and the claim that he supported it, the consul-general said Jaleel had promised him the support of the government, the ruling party and the CM in furthering his unauthorised business activities by misusing the diplomatic channel. The consul general also said him and Jaleel had planned several businesses, she said in the affidavit.