On the eve of the first anniversary of the now infamous Kerala gold smuggling case, which at one point even threatened to unseat the Pinarayi Vijayan government, following a massive onslaught by both the Congress led UDF and the BJP, not only did Vijayan return with a thumping win in the April 6 assembly polls, he continues to be in the driving seat, as the various national agencies conduct their never ending probe.
It all began when on July 5 last year, with the arrest of P.R. Sarith, a former UAE Consulate staffer, and then came the arrest of another former staffer, Swapna Suresh, who afterwards worked in the Kerala IT Department's Space Park.
Various agencies -- Customs, NIA, Enforcement Department took turns in questioning those involved and the shocker came when on October 29 last year, senior bureaucrat M. Sivasankar, principal secretary to Vijayan, was arrested.
It was joy for the principal opposition parties who had a roaring time taking out juicy tales being put out by the dozen TV channels, but Vijayan time and again showed grit and used to throw up his two hands and sternly say, "these hands are clean and that's why I am able to lift my hands".
Even though over a dozen arrests have been made by the various agencies, there seems to be some road blocks in the case.