Swapna Suresh, key accused in the Kerala gold smuggling case, has made another fresh allegation and approached the Kerala High Court saying that the police allegedly harassed her during interrogation forcing her to disclose the details of her section 164 statement. Swapna had earlier approached the court seeking to quash an FIR registered against her for allegedly conspiring to cause a riot in the state through her recent revelations.
In her plea before the High Court, Swapna alleged that the police threatened her that if she did not leave her job at HRDS and get rid of her advocate, they would arraign her as an accused in all the 770 cases registered all over Kerala in the wake of the agitation conducted by the opposition political parties against the Chief Minister. "This is nothing but illegal and unjustifiable. Because of the harassment by the police in the name of investigation meted out to the staff of HRDS, the NGO in which the petitioner was working has terminated her service," said the plea filed through her lawyer.
She sought the court direction to the police from harassing her in the name of investigation "so as to coerce the petitioner from disclosing the details of the 164 statement and removing the counsel." Swapna had earlier claimed that she had given a statement under section 164 of the CrPC alleging involvement of Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, his family members, former Minister KT Jaleel, former Speaker P Sreeramakrishnan, former principal secretary to Chief Minister M Sivasankar and some top bureaucrats "in anti-national activities" in the UAE Consulate, including gold-smuggling."
After this, Jaleel lodged a complaint with the police following which a case was registered under sections 153 (giving provocation with intent to cause a riot) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code against Swapna.
Swapna Suresh was back in the news again after a long while after she approached the local police seeking security and alleged that the Chief Minister and his family were aware of the gold smuggling. She alleged that the Chief Minister’s bag during his trip to Dubai was forgotten and the UAE Consulate was tasked with transporting the bag that allegedly had currency notes inside. The opposition has been protesting on the roads demanding the Chief Minister’s resignation after the allegations. CM Pinarayi Vijayan, however, has completely refuted the allegations and said that Swapna was part of a political game to target him without any proof.