It lookS the noose is tightening around the Kerala Government led by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan as the gold smuggling scam busted by Customs officials is assuming alarming size and spilling out new details.
While M Sivsankar, the former principal secretary to the Chief Minister who was summoned by the Customs officials on Tuesday evening was questioned for a marathon nine hours and let off by Wednesday morning informing him that he may have to present himself at the Kochi office of the Department if need arises, the day also saw Customs officials raiding the offices of Kerala State IT Infrastructure Ltd at the capital city where Swapna Suresh was employed as liaison officer by the IT Department headed by Sivsankar.
At the same time, the façade of denials by Higher Education Minister K T Jaleel about his telephonic conversation with Swapna Suresh, one of the kingpins of the gold smuggling racket was demolished by a section of the media on Wednesday.
Though the minister, a former leader of the banned SIMI had claimed on Tuesday that he spoke to Swapna on May 27 at the instance of the UAE Consul General, details of call records aired by Janam News prove that he was having telephonic contacts with the controversial woman as early as April.
Though the Customs Department is yet to make any official statement about the arrests, seizure and questioning of the suspects, information trickling out of the Thiruvananthapuram office of the department confirm that Sivsankar had told the officials that he had close relationship with Swapna Suresh and he might have intervened once or twice to help her personally.
He was allowed to go home on the condition that he should make available himself for further grilling as and when needed. The Customs officials also got enough information that substantiates the close proximity Sivsankar had with Swapna, Sarith and Sandeep.
The NIA has sought the custody of Sarith, Jalal and Mohammed Shaafi who are in the custody of the Customs Department.
Minister Jaleel’s woes are increasing by the day as it has been found that by directly communicating with the UAE diplomats without the concurrence of the External Affairs Ministry, he has violated the protocol and guidelines. RVS Mani, former under secretary in the Ministry of Home Affairs , told The Pioneer that what Jaleel has dome is an open violation of guidelines. “There are rules, laws and protocols to be observed by a minister in his dealings with foreign missions.
Opposition parties have intensified their agitation demanding the resignation of Vijayan. Leader of the Opposition Ramesh Chennithala challenged the Chief Minister to face a CBI probe into the case and expressed surprise over the delay in taking action against Sivsankar.