Agency’s submission in court adds to govt woes

Thiruvananthapuram: Two days after the NIA counsel appreciated the chief minister for the due diligence shown in seeking a probe by central agencies in the gold smuggling case, the agency spoke about the influence prime accused Swapna Suresh had exerted in the CMO.
During the hearing of her bail application, the NIA counsel pointed out the influence Swapna had over police and the space park project of the government. At one point, the counsel referred to her ‘casual association’ with chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan.
The arguments put forth by NIA to oppose the bail of Swapna on Thursday will add to the woes of LDF government which maintained that Swapna’s acquaintance was only with suspended bureaucrat M Sivasankar and that too on a personal level. This argument was raised by CM and CPM leaders to defend the government and portray that relation between Sivasankar and Swapna was entirely different from the business of the government.
"The contents of NIA’s case diary are startling. It is for the first time in the history that the office of a chief minister is becoming the epicentre of smuggling. CM has taken a stand protecting his former principal secretary M Sivasankar ever since the beginning of the case", said KPCC president Mullappally Ramachandran.
He said even the argument of CPM leaders that Sivasankar hadn’t called customs to release the diplomatic manage won’t hold water as it hinted the possibility of Swapna using CMO for smuggling deals in the past. "It is believed that gold worth Rs 200 crore was smuggled recently through this channel," he added.
Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala said chief minister has lost the moral authority to remain in office. "The new revelations have validated our argument that Swapna had deep influence in the CMO. CM said the investigation of NIA was progressing on the right track. In that case, he should quit immediately based on the revelations," he said.
BJP state president K Surendran also demanded Vijayan’s immediate resignation. "The country is shocked to hear that a smuggling case accused had strong influence in CMO. Has the CM assigned his principal secretary to be the mentor of anti-nationals?" Surendran asked.
Sources in CPM said the influence of Swapna in CMO has been limited to her acquaintance with Sivasankar and there is nothing much serious in NIA revelations. "As far as we understand, what is reported by media is contextual references made during an argument. The written affidavit filed by NIA doesn’t seem to include any such detail," said a CPM leader.