Kerala was plunged into political crisis as KT Jaleel, Minister for HigherEeducation, who is a national leader of the banned outfit SIMI, was interrogated by the Enforcement Directorate on Friday. The interrogation of the Minister, the first of its kind in State politics, took place at an undisclosed location in Aluwa on Friday morning. The chief of the ED confirmed the news that Jaleel was questioned after summoning him on Friday.
The interrogation was in connection with the import of Qurans and other “religious materials” supplied by the UAE Consulate which were accepted by Jaleel . He did not inform the Government at the Centre or the State about his dealings with the Foreign Mission,
There were reports that the package of Quran contained smuggled gold for distribution among anti-national forces operating from Kerala and Karnataka. The government vehicles carrying the “Quran” copies numbring more than 3,000 were sent to places in Karnataka. Jaleel was also found to be having telephonic conversations with Swapna Suresh, the kingpin of the gold smuggling through diplomatic channel who has been arrested by the NAI.
Jaleel’s relations with the Consul General, attaché and other officials came out immediately after the seizure of the smuggled gold at Thiruvananthapuram airport. The media in the State had released digital evidences like WhatsApp communications between Jaleel and the UAE consulate. Foreign policy experts had made it clear that there was impropriety in the behaviour of the minister and violation of diplomatic protocol.
The BJP and the Muslim League were the first to react to the reports about interrogation of Jaleel by the ED. “If the Kerala Government has little bit of decency and honesty remaining with it, chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan should sack Jaleel from the council of ministers,” said K Surendran, state BJP chief.
P K Feroze, the Mulsim League leader said that the interrogation of a minister by a central agency was hitherto unheard in Kerala and demanded the immediate dismissal of the minister from the government.