It is election season in Kerala and almost all decisions of the government are subject to be read in that light. The latest is Kerala police’s action against a group of Enforcement Directorate officials. A first move of its kind. According to a report in The Telegraph, they have been booked and accused of “applying mental pressure” on  the gold-smuggling accused Swapna Suresh to “falsely implicate Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan”.

On Wednesday, the crime branch had filed an FIR on the basis of an audio clip in which a woman reportedly “suggests that ED officials had tried to force her to name Vijayan”. The FIR comes at a time the Congress and the BJP have been using the charges against Sivasankar to point a finger at Vijayan. According to The Telegraph, their police sources said Swapna had confirmed to crime branch investigators that the voice was hers. While the accused ED officials are understood to be based in Kerala the FIR, filed in Ernakulam, does not name them or say how many people are involved, stated the news report. However, it does mention that Swapna had allegedly faced this “coercion during her ED interrogation on August 12 and 13 last year”.

The sensational gold smuggling case had made headlines since it was first reported. The accused Swapna was allegedly involved in smuggling 30kg gold, worth Rs 14.82 crore. She, a former secretary with the consul general, is accused of “using her connections with local authorities” to help smuggle the gold from Dubai. Swapna was arrested soon after, and remains in the custody of the various central agencies probing the case or in judicial custody reported TT.

Earlier this month, The Indian Express reported that the Customs had informed the Kerala High Court that Swapna Suresh had “stated with clarity about smuggling of foreign currency at the instance of” Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Speaker P Sreeramakrishnan. The report also mentioned that Sumit Kumar, Commissioner of Customs (Preventive), Kochi, filed an affidavit in the High Court adding further claims of “the improper and illegal activities of three Ministers of the State Cabinet and the Speaker”. 

It was for the first time that Customs made such an allegation against the Chief Minister, sending the political circles into a tizzy. The CPM state secretariat had stated that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was “upset over the image of the Chief Minister and the government”. The CPM added that “investigating agencies have stooped to the level of campaign tools. Kerala would give a fitting reply to the challenge thrown by the BJP-Congress combine. The Customs action is a blatant violation of the poll code and a misuse of investigating agencies… Those who are engaged in cheap politics should realise that this is Kerala.” On the other hand, the Opposition Congress and BJP, sought the resignation of the Chief Minister.

The 35-second audio clip was leaked to the media on November 19 last year, reported TT. In it a woman is reportedly heard saying: “What my lawyer told me today is that the statement submitted before the court states that I had gone to the UAE with (suspended IAS officer) Sivasankar in October and did financial negotiations for the CM. They (the investigators) are asking me to ratify that (statement in court) to make me an approver. When I said I would never do that, I was told they would come to jail and force me again.” The woman has not been identified. The clip mentions the CM and M. Sivasankar, who was then secretary at the chief minister’s office. Sivasankar, was among those arrested in the case, and was later granted bail, stated the Telegraph.

Now, the accused ED officials have been booked on the charges of framing people with incorrect documents, fabricating evidence, giving false evidence, abetment and criminal conspiracy. Conviction can bring a jail term of up to seven years stated news reports. According to the report, the two policemen deployed for Swapna’s security during the ED interrogation have given written submissions to the police stating they overheard an ED official named Radhakrishnan pressuring Swapna to name the chief minister.  Another prime accused in the case, Sandeep Nair, recently submitted a handwritten letter to a sessions judge in Ernakulam alleging coercion by a “Mr Radhakrishnan”. According to TT, Nair, a BJP worker, said he had been offered a good lawyer and a promise not to oppose his bail application.  

Meanwhile, as the Kerala Assembly Elections 2021 approached two UDF legislators quit soon after the Kerala Congress (M) faction led by senior leader PJ Joseph and former Union Minister PC Thomas’ Kerala Congress decided to merge into a single entity ‘Kerala Congress’. PJ Joseph and his colleague Mons Joseph, both sitting UDF legislators, resigned on Friday. According to the news report, both had in fact agreed to contest the April 6 Assembly elections. They reportedly quit based on legal advice that “to avoid any future complications, it would be better if they quit and submit their nominations” stated the news reports.

Divisions within political sides, Left, Right, Centre, have slowly begun to come into the public eye. Potential candidates are making their opinions heard, and those who feel unheard are no longer demure about switching parties.  The last big name to quit the Left, and join the Congress was E A Sankaran. Sankaran had reportedly said that he “quit CPM after I C Balakrishnan promised to field him in Sultan Bathery as Congress candidate…”

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The Supreme Court is going to determine whether gold smuggling comes under the purview of “terrorist economic activity” under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA). A plea has been filed by one Mohd. Aslam, as the Rajasthan High Court refused to quash the FIR against him, in which he has been charged under UAPA for smuggling gold.

The petitioner has contended that the charges under UAPA have been invoked arbitrariliy and no prima facie case of economic terrorism have been made out against him and neither has he been found to be connected with any terrorist or extremist group. He asserts that he engaged in smuggling due to his financial situation during the lockdown and just wanted to buy a flight ticket. He was working in Saudi Arabia as contract labour and lost his job after the pandemic broke out. Aslam was told by one person that if he delivers gold to an unknown person in Jaipur, he would book his flight ticket and pay him Rs. 10,000. But the gold was seized in Jaipur and he, along with 10 others, were sent to judicial custody. He was granted bail in July but an FIR was lodged against him in Delhi under UAPA on the ground that smuggling was done to threaten the country’s economic stability.

He has also challenged the filing of two FIRs for the same incident and the same cause of action.

The petitioner states that the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has nothing to show that the gold was smuggled to fund terrorism. The petitioner points out that gold smuggling should be dealt with under the Customs Act and not the UAPA. NIA states that facts disclosed by the accused persons revealed commission of criminal conspiracy, furthering terrorist activities and threatening the economic security and damaging monetary stability of India, defining it as a terrorist act in violation of UAPA, reported LiveLaw.

Rajasthan High Court in its impugned judgment observed that offence of gold smuggling with intent to threaten economic security of the country is a terrorist act under UAPA.

Kerala High Court in a judgment delivered on February 18, held that gold smuggling with a mere illegal profit motive will not fall within the definition of terrorist act under UAPA.

Related:

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