The Customs Department which is probing the controversial Kerala gold smuggling case on Thursday summoned Janam TV Coordinating News Editor Anil Nambiar to its Kochi office for questioning. Anil Nambiar was summoned after his alleged links with a key accused in the case, Swapna Suresh, surfaced.
Anil Nambiar had allegedly contacted Swapna Suresh twice on the day 30 kg of gold was smuggled from Dubai in a diplomatic baggage, but was confiscated by the Customs from Trivandrum International Airport. It was on July 5 that Customs made the seizure pertaining to the case, which has now become a major political storm in the state.
Following the summons, Anil Nambiar went to the Customs office in Kochi at around 10.30 am on Thursday. The call details record of Swapna Suresh that had surfaced earlier shows that out of the two calls, one from Anil Nambiar to Swapna lasted about four minutes. The next call which Swapna made to Anil, an hour following the first call lasted a minute.
According to reports, Swapna Suresh has given a statement to the Customs about the call. This statement will now be crosschecked during the interrogation of Anil Nambiar.
Meanwhile, Customs has also reportedly summoned Arun Balachandran, the former IT Fellow of Kerala Chief Minister, for questioning on Thursday. Arun was removed from the post of CM’s IT Fellow after allegations that he had links with Swapna Suresh.
Swapna had earlier given a statement to the Customs that it was Arun Balachandran who helped her to book an apartment in Thiruvananthapuram, where the alleged conspiracy to smuggle gold was hatched.
It has also emerged that Arun had booked the apartment allegedly on the direction of M Sivasankar, former Principal Secretary of CM Pinarayi Vijayan. Sivasankar was also removed from the post following allegations of his close connection with Swapna Suresh and Sarith PS, first accused in the case. A WhatsApp chat between Arun and Sivasankar regarding the latter asking Arun to book an apartment had surfaced earlier.
Watch smuggled gold seized by Customs Department: