Kerala Assembly Speaker P Sreeramakrishnan’s assistant private secretary K Ayyappan has failed to appear before the Customs department at their Kochi office on Wednesday. The department issued summons to Ayyappan in connection with the dollar smuggling case.
In a mail, Ayyappan notified the Customs that he could not appear before them as he has a busy schedule as the Kerala Assembly session is beginning on Friday. This is the second time that Ayyappan has failed to appear before Customs. The department had summoned Ayyappan on Tuesday which he failed to appear. Therefore, they summoned him today for questioning for which he again failed to appear.
Meanwhile, the opposition led by the United Democratic Front (UDF), has demanded the removal of Sreeramakrishnan as the Speaker of the Assembly. The opposition wrote a notice to the Legislative Assembly Secretary to table a resolution, removing Sreeramakrishnan from his post. Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) leader M Ummer said in the notice that the Speaker has lowered the Kerala Assembly’s esteem by involving with the gold smuggling case accused and must vacate his office.
According to reports, Speaker Sreeramakrishna is allegedly involved in the gold smuggling case. Reportedly, the Kerala Assembly Speaker handed a bag to gold smuggling accused Swapna Suresh and Sarith PS and asked them to deliver the bag to the United Arab Emirates Consulate General’s office. Though the Speaker has denied any involvement in the case, it is reported that Sreeramakrishnan inaugurated a shop of one of the accused on Swapna’s insistence.
