Kerala gold smuggling case accused Swapna Suresh, who had promised to make more revelations about the case, on Tuesday directly named Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, his wife Kamala, daughter Veena, two top aides to Vijayan and one Cabinet minister in connection with the case. She said she has given a statement under Section 164 of the CrPC naming the Chief Minister, his wife Kamala Vijayan, daughter Veena Vijayan, former State Chief Secretary Nalini Netto, Additional Private Secretary to Kerala Chief Minister CM Raveendran and former Kerala Education Minister and current legislator KT Jaleel. Section 164 of CrPC refers to confidential statements, confessions made in front of a magistrate.
"I have been advised by the court to show restraint while I speak and hence I am not able to speak everything about the gold smuggling case. It all began in 2016 when Vijayan first went to the UAE, he had forgotten a bag. Then M Sivasankar (former Kerala Principal Secretary to Vijayan and top IAS official) contacted me first and asked me to make all arrangements to make sure that bag reaches Dubai. This bag was sent to Dubai through a consulate official. That is how the entire saga started. At the Consulate office, there is a scanner and when we scanned the bag, it was filled with money," she said.
She further said that on many occasions, biryani vessels with heavy metal objects were transported from the house of the UAE Consulate General in India to the residence of the Kerala Chief Minister multiple times.
"This has happened on several occasions and it has been found out that biriyani vessels containing not just biriyani but other heavy metal objects were sent. This was done under instructions from Sivasankar," Swapna added.
She said she made the same revelations to the various central probe agencies but this was being told to the media for the first time. She however did not elaborate on her allegations against the CM’s family members and others.
"I have been asked by the court to show restraint and since I respect the court, I am revealing only this much now. Maybe in the coming days I will be making more revelations," said Swapna, soon after coming out from the court after recording her statement under Section 164 of the CrPC.
On Monday, she had told the media that she testified before a magistrate that she fears a threat to her life and other things about the case pertaining to the unaccounted money that was recovered from her bank locker, as well as of other accused in the case.
Reacting to Swapna's statement, Sivasankar said the former's allegations against him are frivolous while Nalini Netto refused to comment on the allegations levelled against her.
It was in February 2022 after a round of fresh revelations by Swapna, she was asked to appear before the Enforcement Directorate officials.
Though there was nothing much happening in the case, the recent release of the autobiography of Sivasankar in which he claimed that "he never did any favour to Swapna" and added that "he never knew the iPhone that was gifted to him by her was part of a bribe" drew a furious response from Swapna.
Swapna alleged that it was Sivasankar "who destroyed her life" and "all what she knew, he also knew".
She also pointed out that he had told her that he will take voluntary retirement and settle down with her in the UAE.
She said that it was with his help that she, along with her husband and children and their friend Sandip Nair, managed to sneak out of Kerala when the gold smuggling case surfaced in July 2020, when the entire state was under massive Covid travel restrictions.
Another revelation by her was that of the two audio clips involving her, one which came out on the day she and her family were on the run to Bengaluru and another while in custody, she said, it was all stage managed and directed by Sivasankar and others.
Meanwhile, the other central agencies -- Customs and Intelligence Bureau -- have also registered cases supplementary to the gold smuggling case and in all these, Swapna is an accused and now out on bail.