PALAKKAD: It was expected to be high decibel political thriller. However, it turned out be a dud when the “explosive negotiation’’ audio clips of Swapna Suresh, the prime accused in the diplomatic gold smuggling case, got released on Friday in Palakkad.
Though Swapna had claimed that the whole country will be shocked upon hearing it, all it had was a recorded personal conversation between Swapna and her friend Shaj Kiran, whom she had claimed to be the emissary of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. Before playing the audio, Swapna said she decided to record the conversation between her and Shaj as she was put under lot of pressure.
“Shaj asked me whether I knew who I was playing with? He told me that (CM Pinarayi) will never be able to bear it if you drag his daughter’s name into the matter,” she told media persons who had gathered at the premises of HRDS, her office. Swapna alleged that Kiran persuaded her to withdraw her secret statement from the court. “Once you listen to the audio clip, you can decide for yourself,” Swapna said before the one-hour-long audio was played out.
The audio that followed, however, was no match to the buildup. Most of the conversation revolved around Kiran’s tall claims about his proximity to political leaders and Swapna’s reactions to them. In the voice clip, Kiran was heard telling her, quoting some online media, that the funds of the CM and CPM state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan were being transferred to the US through the channel of the Believers church.
‘Shaj & I had no differences until a couple of days ago’
Once the audio was released, Swapna said the “No. 1’’ referred to by Shaj in the conversation was Chief Minister Pinarayi. But when asked what the evidence of the connection between Shaj and the CM was, Swapna said it was for the media to investigate and that she did not have any evidence to prove it.
Swapna insisted that she released the voice clip to show that she did not have anything to hide and was not part of any conspiracy.
Reacting angrily to the reported statement of Shaj that he had some obscene videos of her, Swapna said it was one of the easiest ways to attack a woman. However, Swapna admitted that it was she who called Shaj after Sarith went missing on June 8. “We had no personal differences until a couple of days ago. However, he had been torturing me mentally since afternoon (of June 8), forcing me to withdraw the 164 statement,” Swapna said.
Surrogacy angle
Swapna also admitted that she had agreed to be the surrogate mother after realising the plight of Shaj’s wife. “I had agreed to be a surrogate mother, with the knowledge of his family members, if my health permitted. I know the pain of mothers who cannot bear a child and I offered my help,” Swapna said.
Shaj had earlier said he had requested Swapna to be the surrogate mother of his child as he wanted a girl child who looked like her. “We had also decided to name her Vaiga,’’ he said.
VIGILANCE CHIEF SACKED
T’PURAM: ADGP MR Ajith Kumar was removed from the post of vigilance chief on Friday following the CM’s order. The move came after it was found that Kumar had been in touch with Shaj Kiran who allegedly tried to compel Swapna Suresh to withdraw her charges against the CM.