The Crime Branch of the Kerala Police will be probing the recently-surfaced voice note alleged to be that of gold smuggling accused Swapna Suresh. In the voice note that is alleged to be recorded by Swapna from prison, it is said that investigation agencies forced her to name Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in the case and that she would then be turned an approver in the case.
Kerala State Police Chief Loknath Behera on Saturday in an order said that a special team has been deployed to probe the matter, says a Times of India report. The action was initiated after Director General of Prisons Rishiraj Singh handed over the Enforcement Directorate’s letter seeking for a probe, to the state police chief.
The controversial audio clip surfaced on Malayalam portal The Cue on Thursday. Meanwhile, opposition parties in the state had alleged that Swapna, who is lodged in women’s jail at Attakulangara in Thiruvananthapuram, had received aid from authorities in order to record such an audio clip. However, the Director-General of Prisons had said that Swapna has told officers that it is her voice itself in the audio but she does not remember exactly where the audio was recorded or to whom it was told.
Last week, suspended IAS officer M Sivasankar, who has been arrested by the Enforcement Directorate as fifth accused of money laundering violation related to the gold smuggling case, had told the court that he was pressured by the agency to name certain ‘political targets’.
The CPI(M), which leads the LDF government in the state, on Saturday alleged that the Enforcement Directorate had become an agency which was destroying its own credibility on a daily basis and was trying to target and overthrow the government. The LDF is organising a mass gathering in the state on November 25 against the alleged misuse of power to curtail development by central agencies.
(With inputs from PTI)