KOCHI: National Investigation Agency (NIA) probing the Thiruvananthapuram gold smuggling case on Wednesday told a special court that the agency is yet to identify the ‘objective of the smuggling operation’.
The agency, which was strenuously arguing that the gold smuggling was aimed at destabilising the economy and for financing terrorism, made the submission while opposing the bail petition of two among the accused.
Assistant solicitor general (ASG) P Vijayakumar who appeared for the agency to oppose the bail petitions filed by Hamsath Abdul Salam and Samju TM, said the agency cannot enter into any guesswork. He said it has to find evidence so that the case can be proved in court. He said once critical electronic data are accessed from C-DAC, the agency is sure to get to the bottom of the case.
The ASG said data from only 22 out of the 99 digital gadgets seized from the accused have been analyzed by C-DAC till date.
He submitted that the two accused seeking bail have undergone custody of only fewer than 90 days and their links have established a deep-rooted conspiracy. Their antecedents are shady and their claims cannot be taken on face value, he said.
He added that the larger interest of the security of the country requires that the investigation agency should be given free hand for an extended period of 180 days so that it will be able to come clean with all available details.
Counsel for the petitioners argued that the agency has failed to produce any proof to substantiate the charges under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act and hence the accused should be granted bail. He said the petitioners have admitted that they received smuggled gold but their intention was to make profit and not to fund terrorism. The court will give an order in the bail petition on Friday.
Earlier in the day, the court had granted custody of Sarith PS, Ramees KT and Jalal AM, three others accused in the case, to the investigation team till Friday.
NIA prosecutor Arjun Ambalapatta submitted before the court that the agency needs to confront them with the confession statement given by Sandeep Nair, the fourth accused, under Section 164 CrPC, and some other accused in the case.
NIA also submitted that it needs to further probe the Tanzanian connection of Ramees.
Meanwhile, the additional chief judicial magistrate court, Ernakulam (Economic Offences) granted permission for Customs to record the arrest of Sarith PS and Swapna Suresh in a case registered by the agency relating to the illegal export of currency out of the country.