Kerala gold smuggling case: NIA to interrogate Fazil Fareed in Dubai

A team of National Investigation Agency (NIA) will soon travel to Dubai to question key accused Fazil Fareed in the Kerala gold smuggling case. The agency has registered an FIR in the case, naming Sarith PS, Swapna Prabha Suresh, Fazil Fareed, and Sandeep Nair as accused.

Meanwhile, a Kochi court on Friday reserved for August 12 its order on the bail plea of Swapna Suresh, the key accused in the gold smuggling case. During an earlier hearing, the NIA had opposed the bail plea and submitted before the court that Swapna had established a link with the Chief Minister's Office through its former principal secretary M Sivasankar.

It had also submitted that around Rs 1 crore cash and 982.5 grams gold ornaments were seized from two bank lockers of Swapna Suresh during the investigation in the matter.

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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 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 Thiruvananthapuram gold smuggling accused. 

A day later, a special NIA court remanded Sarith Kumar, the prime accused in the Kerala gold smuggling case to NIA custody for 7 days. 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 purpose but for funding terror activities.

(With ANI inputs)

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