NIA team in Secretariat

Thiruvananthapuram: A team of officers from National Investigation Agency (NIA) visited the government Secretariat here on Tuesday and inspected the server room of the closed circuit television surveillance system.
The NIA team was assisted by technical specialists from agencies of the state government. The team is learnt to have examined the CCTV server room and also checked the places where the CCTV cameras have been installed. The team is also learnt to have met the secretary of the general administration department, and informed that the agency will convey to the government the dates of which the camera recordings will be required.
The NIA is seeking the CCTV visuals from the Secretariat as part of the investigation in the gold smuggling case, to ascertain who the accused in the case, including Swapna Suresh and Sarith, met in the Secretariat earlier. Though the agency had sought visuals of the past one year from the Secretariat, the government had replied by informing of difficulties in transferring such a large volume of data. This is the third time that the agency is visiting the Secretariat in connection with the probe.
Meanwhile, BJP state president K Surendran said that the NIA team visiting the government Secretariat in connection with a criminal case is shameful to Keralites, and the chief minister should resign from the post immediately, accepting responsibility for the incident. He said that the chief minister should resign before the NIA team reaches the office of the chief minister in connection with the probe. He added that the state government is refusing to hand over the CCTV visuals due to the fear that the investigation may reach the chief minister. The government that had initially promised all support to the probe, is now trying to sabotage it, he said.