A special court in Kochi that is hearing the Kerala gold smuggling case on Tuesday extended the custody of 33-year-old Perinthalmanna native Ramees KT, one of the alleged kingpins in the sensational case. The period of custody was extended on a request by the National Investigation Agency (NIA), which is probing the case.
The custody application filed by C Radhakrishna Pillai, Deputy Superintendent of Police of NIA, stated that Ramees had not yet fully revealed details related to the offence. Though the NIA asked for a custody period of four days, the court has granted three-day custody starting from Tuesday.
The case pertains to the seizure of 30 kg of gold worth Rs 14.82 crores smuggled from UAE to Kerala, camouflaged in a diplomatic baggage. Ramees is the fifth accused in the case registered by NIA that is probing suspected terrorism links to the case. The NIA has said that the money from the smuggled gold was suspectedly to be used for funding activities of terrorism in India.
According to NIA, interrogation of Ramees was important as more arrests in the case were made after questioning him. Six arrests (Accused 6 to Accused 12) were made by the NIA following a disclosure by Ramees, they claimed.
It was Ramees who also revealed the role played by Rabins (Accused 10) who is believed to be in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), investigation officials told court. One of the key accused, Sandeep Nair (Accused 4), had earlier revealed to NIA that it was allegedly Ramees who pushed to smuggle more gold to India during the lockdown period, according to authorities.
Meanwhile, the NIA on Tuesday recorded the arrest of Mannarkkad native Shafeeq and Perinthalmanna native Sharafuddin. The two men allegedly distributed previously smuggled gold to investors. With this, a total of 12 people have been arrested so far in the case by the NIA.
The case had triggered a political storm in Kerala as a senior IAS officer, who was the Principal Secretary of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, was accused of having close relations with some key accused. The IAS officer was removed from his post and has also been suspended from service.
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