The car believed to be used by airport gold smuggling suspect Arjun Ayanki was found hidden behind bushes on a hillock opposite the Pariyaram Medical College hospital in Kerala's Kannur district, police said on Sunday. Police had been on the lookout for the car which was suspected to be used in a gold smuggling case at Karipur airport in Kozhikode district. The recent accident at Ramanattukara in Kozhikode, in which five people lost their lives during a chase between two gold smuggling gangs, had shocked the people.
The Kannur police on Sunday evening identified the car using its engine number as the number plates had been removed. The red Maruti Swift car belongs to C Sajesh from Chembilode, authorities said. Sources close to Sajesh said that the car was always used by Ayanki ever since he had bought the vehicle. Arjun Ayanki is a Left cyber ‘celeb’ with over 40,000 followers on Facebook. After his name was involved in the case, Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI), the youth wing of CPI(M) denied any ties with him. DYFI last week asked their supporters to stay away from such social media celebrities, who ‘fake ties’ with the party.
On June 21, the Customs Department seized 2,332 grams of gold from a Malappuram native named Mohammed Shafeeque Melethil from the Calicut International Airport in Karipur. The case got more attention after, on the same day, five young people died in a road accident in Kozhikode’s Ramanattukara and it surfaced that they were linked to the gold smuggling case. They were allegedly chasing another rival smuggling gang, thinking that they were in possession of the gold brought by Mohammed Shafeeque, unaware that he was arrested by the Customs Department. Arjun Ayanki is alleged to have links with one of the rackets.
Kannur District Secretary MV Jayarajan had on Thursday called a press conference and openly distanced the party from those involved in the gold smuggling case. The party's state Acting Secretary, A Vijayaraghavan, also said that the CPI(M) will not support any anti-social activities and will not allow any of the party cadres to be involved in such dealings.