Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in a hard-hitting letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi has warned about the deterioration of the Centre-State relations because of the highhanded attitude of the Central agencies probing the gold smuggling scam.Vijayan was upset that his additional special secretary C M Raveendran was summoned by the Enforcement Directorate for probing the nexus between the Chief Minister’s Office and the kingpins of the gold smuggling through diplomatic channels which broke out in June 2020.
Though Raveendran was summoned thrice in the past by the ED for questioning, the senior party activist hailing from Vijayan’s village cited ailments live Covid-19 to avoid the grilling by the agency. But his luck ran out by Thursday as the Kerala High Court dismissed his petition seeking to quash the summons by the ED. Raveendran is being questioned by ED officials at Kochi at the time of going to the Press.
Vijayan reminded the Prime Minister that it was the forner’s letter dated July 8 seeking investigation by the Central agencies into the beneficiaries of gold smuggling which resulted in the National Investigation Agency being deputed by the Centre. The chief minister alleged that the NIA was yet to arrest the main culprits in the gold smuggling while other agencies like the CBI, customs and ED reached the State under one pretext or other and began tormenting officials known for their honesty and integrity.
“When it was pointed out by the investigation agencies that the then principal secretary of the Chief Minister had liaison with some of the accused in the gold smuggling scam, he was removed immediately. But the central agencies instead of probing the gold smuggling are investigating the LIFE Mission, K-Fone and KIFB projects of the Government of Kerala without our concurrence. This is against the federalism mentioned in the Indian Constitution. The summoning and questioning of the officials by these agencies have dampened their spirit,” said Vijayan in his letter.