The Enforcement Directorate has submitted a petition seeking custody of gold smuggling accused PS Sarith and Swapna Suresh for three days of questioning. The request follows the accused duo’s controversial statement to the Customs department. Interestingly, in their plea, the ED had asked jail officers not to accompany the accused.
This follows Swapna’s statement alleging that a group of people “identified as police officers” had threatened her from revealing the names of the higher up during her judicial custody at the Attakulangara Women’s prison in Thiruvananthapuram. She had requested for protection, which the court had agreed to.
However, an investigation issued by Jail DGP Rishiraj Singh and conducted by Jail DIG (South Zone) Ajayakumar had reported a different finding. The investigation by the jail official had pointed out that her claims are not adhering to facts. Meanwhile, according to the DIG’s report, Swapna had claimed that she did not make the allegations against the officers and instead only signed the documents that her lawyer had given her.
According to the report, the jail DIG investigated the CCTV visuals from October 14 till November 25. The visuals revealed that apart from ED, Customs, Vigilance officers, Swapna’s mother, husband, and a few relatives, none had visited her at the jail. Swapna had contacted her mother via phone only once, under close watch, and none of the jail officers had unnecessary contact with her.
Meanwhile, the medical board, who had observed Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s additional private secretary CM Raveendran, had ordered his discharge and they have recommended him a week’s rest. Raveendran had dodged an ED probe on Thursday by admitting himself to the hospital on Tuesday citing post-Covid complications for the second time.
