Kerala gold smuggling: Swapna Suresh, her son record statement over threat calls

Kochi (Kerala) [India], July 4 (ANI): Kerala Gold Smuggling prime accused Swapna Suresh and her son on Monday gave a statement to the probe officials at Ernakulam Police Club regarding the alleged threatening phone calls that they have been receiving for taking the names of Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, his wife and daughter.
"They have registered an FIR at the Malappuram station as well as here. So, the Deputy Superintendent of Police, and the ACP team called me for recording my statement. I just came to give my statement. My son also gave a statement because he was also a part of the conversation as you must have heard," Suresh said.
"They have informed me that a gentleman has been taken into custody and an FIR has been registered in both the stations and I have received a copy of it. So I am just waiting to see what's next. Let's see what is going to happen," she added.
Suresh on Sunday had claimed that two persons had called to threaten her for alleging the CM and his family's involvement in the case and said that she was forced to withdraw her statements.
Following that, the Mankada police in the Malappuram district of Kerala arrested one person identified as Naufal in the matter.
The arrests came a day after the prime accused wrote to the Director-General of Police (DGP) yesterday along with the recordings and the screenshots. On Sunday, she had alleged that Naufal had called to threaten her on the instructions of former minister KT Jaleel.
"If you want to kill, kill at once. A person named Naufal called me. He said that he was calling as per the instructions of KT Jaleel," she had said.
She had also alleged one Maradu Aneesh and said that she had found a number of criminal cases in his name.
She had also accused the Crime Branch of charging a conspiracy to lodge a case against her at the time of interrogation by the Enforcement Directorate.
On June 7 this year, Swapna gave a confidential statement under section 164 (recording of confessions and statements) of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) alleging the CM's involvement in the gold smuggling case.
Amidst the political furore, the state government had appointed a 12-member team led by the Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) to probe Swapna for giving the 164 statements against the CM.
"No matter how many more cases come up against me, I'll not withdraw my 164 statement. The CM is strongly connected with Shaj Kiran. They sent him to my office and now they've registered another case against me," she had said on June 14.
Shaj Kiran is the alleged middleman in the Kerala gold smuggling case that pertains to the seizure of 30 kilograms of 24-carat gold worth Rs 14.82 crores by the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs at Thiruvananthapuram Airport on 5 July 2020. (ANI)