Kerala gold smuggling case: Prime accused Swapna Suresh gets bail in NIA case

Key accused in the infamous gold smuggling case of Kerala, Swapna Prabha Suresh alias Swapna Suresh, received bail in all the cases registered by central agencies against her, the latest being on Tuesday in an NIA case from Kerala High Court.

As she is likely to come out of prison soon, Kerala may witness certain political ramifications as she allegedly had a nexus with many prominent persons in the CPM as well as the Chief Minister's office.

The Kerala High Court granted bail to eight persons including Swapna and P S Sarith, who were former employees of the UAE consulate in Thiruvananthapuram, in the UAPA case initiated by NIA. The court maintained that there was no evidence to support the economic terrorism charges against the accused. There was no evidence that the proceeds from the smuggling were used to support terrorism.

As per the bail condition, the accused will have to furnish a bond for Rs 25 lakh and two solvent sureties.

The case originated with the customs seizing 30 kg of gold hidden in a baggage at Thiruvananthapuram airport. The baggage with 'diplomatic' label was addressed to the UAE consulate in Thiruvananthapuram in July 2020. Probe found a racket involving Swapna and Sarith. The role of many top officials in the consulate as well as in the Kerala government, including the CMO, later surfaced. Chief Minister's former principal secretary M Sivasankar was also arraigned and arrested.

Later the Enforcement Directorate and NIA also chipped in registered cases. Even then higher education minister K T Jaleel and former speaker P Sreeramakrishnan came under probe. Apart from gold smuggling, charges of smuggling currency also came up. Some of the key accused had even reportedly given statements indirectly linking the chief minister.

For these reasons, the bail received by the key accused has triggered much curiosity. Moreover, Swapna Suresh's mother told a section of media that Swapna had been repeatedly telling that she was innocent and she may reveal the facts once she was out of the prison.

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