A day after the Coordinating Editor of Janam TV, Anil Nambiar was questioned by the Customs Department with regard to the gold smuggling case, the journalist has denied all allegations and accused other media houses of twisting ‘facts’. Anil Nambiar has also said that he will temporarily stay away from Janam TV, till his name is cleared.
What made the controversy around Anil Nambiar murkier is a statement by key accused Swapna Suresh, in which she claimed that the journalist had asked her to make the UAE Consulate General release a statement that the bag with gold was not a diplomatic bag.
In her statement to the Customs Department, Swapna said that she has known Anil Nambiar for a while and they first got acquainted as he had sought herhelp over a cheating case against him in the UAE. Fearing arrest, Anil could not visit UAE though he wanted to interview businessman Atlas Ramachandran, who was in the country during that time.
Swapna states that in 2018 Anil first contacted Sarith PS, who is now the first accused in the gold smuggling case seeking help in the matter. Sarith then introduced Anil to Swapna Suresh, who was at that time a staff of the UAE Consulate in Thiruvananthapuram.
Swapna in the statement adds that the issue regarding Anil’s case was resolved after she took up the matter with the UAE Consulate General, who then used his influence in Dubai.
Swapna says that over time, Anil has enquired details about UAE investment in India. She also adds that he had asked her to request the UAE Consulate to extend support to the BJP.
Earlier, when Swapna’s call detail records surfaced, it was found that Anil had contacted her twice on the day smuggled gold was seized by the Customs. However, Anil says that he merely called her to seek a reaction as the channel was airing the story that day.
Swapna on the contrary has said that Anil had called her seeing the reports of the gold seizure. He had asked her to make the Consulate release a statement saying that it was not a diplomatic cargo, but a personal one. Swapna says Anil called him because they were acquaintances. “I intimated this to his excellency who knew Anil,” Swapna says in her statement.
She however claims that since she became frantic about her ‘own safety’, she could not follow up on the matter.
In a statement released on his FB page, Anil Nambiar said, “I gave my statement to the Customs Department on Thursday. I walked past the cameras as a common man to answer all questions. As I have pointed out earlier, there is nothing to hide or suspect anyone. I don’t have anything to say to those who are celebrating it without facts. I am only considering this as an act to garner more ratings. The customs officials were only verifying the details of my call made on July 5. They did their job and I told them what I had to say. I fully cooperated with the investigation and appeared before them at the scheduled time”.
Regarding his call to Swapna on July 5, after the bag was confiscated by Customs, Anil said, “If one were to analyse my call records over the past year, I called this woman (Swapna) only once. I called her to get a clarification from the UAE Consulate. I called her as I knew her as the Executive Secretary to the Consulate General. At the time, I did not know she was working with the Kerala government. I did not however understand her statement that I asked the UAE consulate to give a statement saying it was not a diplomatic one.”
According to reports, Anil Nambiar will again be questioned by the Customs Department. The agency had interrogated him on Thursday for over five hours.
Meanwhile, after Customs questioned Anil Nambiar on Thursday, BJP state chief K Surendran came out stating that party is not related to the channel Janam TV. Later when this became a point of discussion, he said that he only meant that the party does not have stakes in the channel.
Watch Anil Nambiar appearing in Customs office for questioning: