THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The prisons department undertook an examination of the closed circuit television feeds in the Attakkulangara women’s prison where the key accused in gold smuggling case Swapna Suresh has been housed here, on Wednesday.
The footage was examined in the wake of Suresh pleading before the court that she is facing threat to her life as some of the persons who visited her in prison had threatened her demanding that she should not reveal the names of bigwigs involved in gold smuggling and should not cooperate with the probe by central agencies.
DIG (prisons) undertook a detailed examination, including the video footages, to find out if anyone had visited Swapna overlooking the jail procedures for visiting a prisoner. When the news about Suresh’s plea came out on Tuesday, DGP (prisons and correctional services) Rishiraj Singh ordered a probe into the matter to find out who had visited her in prison. It is learnt that the examination could not find anything suspicious. The prisons department had increased the security for Suresh two weeks ago. While the prison is guarded by armed police, the cell housing Swapna is under CCTV cover round-the-clock. Also, there is a woman guard outside her cell.
In her plea before the court, Suresh had said that some persons, identifiable by sight, claiming to be prisons and police officials had visited her and had warned her against disclosure of names of persons in high authority, suspected to have involvement in alleged criminal activities. She had also said that they had asked her not to cooperate with the investigation. She had said that she was threatened for several days prior to November 25, and now that she had made revelations before the judicial magistrate which has come out in the media, she is facing threat for her life.