In a setback to the ruling Left Democratic Front government in Kerala, the Kerala High Court on Friday quashed two FIRs registered by the Kerala Police against Enforcement Directorate officials.
The Crime Branch of the Kerala Police registered the cases based on statements of gold smuggling accused Swapna Suresh and Sandeep Nair, which stated that the ED officials forced them to give statements linking Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, Speaker P Sreeramakrishnan and some other ministers with gold and dollar smuggling.
The move of the Crime Branch was widely considered as a politically motivated move of the Kerala government against the central agencies. The ED approached the court seeking quashing of the FIRs.
The HC observed that it was for the court to initiate a probe into any manipulations in a case that was already under the court's consideration. The investigation officers were directed to submit all records pertaining to the case before the Special Court in a sealed cover and the special judge considering the case can decide whether to conduct an inquiry or not.
The Crime Branch investigation was launched after an audio clip, believed to be that of Swapna, surfaced wherein she stated that ED officials forced her to give statements implicating the Chief Minister and others. Later, portions of statements of the gold smuggling accused to central agencies in which the role of the Chief Minister and others was mentioned also came out.
Published 16 April 2021, 14:20 IST