Kerala’s Higher Education Minister K T Jaleel, who is also a former leader of the banned outfit SIMI, is under the scanner of the Customs Department and the National Investigation Agency probing the gold smuggling through diplomatic channel at Thiruvananthapuram Airport.
According to the statements given by Swapna Suresh and Sandeep Nair, the kingpins behind the smuggling racket, Jaleel has received gifts and presentations from the UAE Government which are in violation of Government of India rules barring public servants and officials accepting gifts and presents from diplomatic missions of other countries.
A team of Customs officials raided the State-owned Kerala State Centre for Advanced Printing and Training (C-APT) under the department of higher education at the capital city during the night of Thursday and Friday and found out that the centre had distributed thousands of copies of Quran which were received as gift from the UAE Consulate in Thiruvananthapuram.
The raid was held following the disclosures made by Swapna and Sandeep that they have received printed books in Arabic addressed to the UAE Consulate through diplomatic channel in Thiruvananthapuram Airport. According to information trickling out of the Customs Office, the officials came across bunches of Quran stored in the C-APT office.
A senior intelligence official said that there was nothing illegal in distribution of Quran or Bible to the general public, But it is not legal for a government office to distribute religious books, he said.
“It is illegal on the part of the minister to accept such gifts and undertake the distribution through government network. There are stringent laws in place to check such activities,” Dr T P Senkumar, former Chief of Kerala Police who was also the director general of intelligence told The Pioneer.
Jaleel is facing criticism from the opposition parties for undertaking distribution of Ramzaan kits offered by the UAE Consulate. This too was against all norms set by the External Affairs Ministry.