Kerala gold smuggling case: Accused Sandeep Nair to turn approver; to confess in CJM court

In a significant development in the Kerala gold smuggling case, accused Sandeep Nair has agreed to become an approver. While Nair was granted bail by the Kochi Economic Offences Court on September 22, he remained in jail as he is accused in another case filed by the NIA. Earlier in the day, Nair moved the Kochi NIA court stating that he wanted to give a confessional statement under Section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. The NIA will record his confessional statement before the Chief Judicial Magistrate court. 

After the NIA took over the case, it registered an FIR against Sarith Kumar, Swapna Suresh, Fazil Fareed, Sandeep Nair, and others. Various sections of the UAPA were slapped against the aforesaid individuals. The NIA has alleged that the smuggled gold was not used for jewellery purposes but for funding terror activities.

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What is the Kerala gold smuggling case? 

On July 5, Customs officials seized 30 kg of gold worth Rs.15 crore at the Thiruvananthapuram Airport from a diplomatic cargo addressed to a person in the UAE Consulate. Sarith Kumar, who worked at the UAE Consulate was arrested in this regard. Reportedly, he told the Customs about the role of Swapna Suresh, an ex-Consulate employee now working as the operations manager of the Kerala State Information Technology Infrastructure Limited.

The case took a political turn after photos with Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan surfaced. It has been alleged that Suresh has links with the CM and has been seen with him at parties when she was working at the UAE Consulate. Following the backlash over her appointment, she was sacked by the state government. On July 16, Vijayan announced that the suspension of his former Principal Secretary M Sivasankar pending the departmental inquiry. It was reportedly found that he had violated the All-India Services Conduct rules due to his connections with the gold smuggling accused. 

Sivasankar was reportedly questioned along with Swapna Suresh by NIA sleuths for 9 hours on September 24. The suspended bureaucrat allegedly played a key role in the appointment of Suresh as operations manager in the Kerala State Information Technology Infrastructure Limited. As per sources, the other accused Sarith Kumar and Sandeep Nair got in touch with the senior IAS officer through Suresh. 

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