The gold smuggling scam and Quran import case which rocked Kerala politics took a new turn on Tuesday as the Forensic Department which probed the August 25 fire mishap at Government Secretariat in its report stated that the fire was not caused by short circuit as claimed by the Police.
The Protocol Room, where all sensitive files of the government’s dealings with foreign countries were stored, was gutted in the fire. While the entire files got destroyed in the mishap all other items in the room remained intact. “Even the sanitizer bottles stored in the room remained safe,” said one of the Forensic Science Department officials.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) probing the gold smuggling case was to inspect the Protocol Room for seizing the files when the fire destroyed the entire lot. Files dealing with the official tours of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and other ministers too were stored in the Protocol Room.
The Government had filed criminal cases against BJP Kerala chief K Surendran for “trespassing” into the Secretariat on hearing about the fire mishap. Interestingly, the CCTV visuals of the Secretariat, Chief Minister’s Office and his official residence which were being sought by the NIA too got destroyed in “lightning” that happened in these locations leaving the investigation agency clueless and perplexed.
Report by the Forensic Science department’s probe was submitted to the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Thiruvananthapuram on Tuesday. Surendran said the Protocol room was set ablaze at the instance of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan to subvert the investigation into the gold smuggling scam and demanded a probe by the central agency into the whole issue.