The ruling Communist Party of India (Marxist) on Friday lodged a complaint against Swapna Suresh, the main accused in Kerala gold smuggling and Life Mission cases and alleged middleman Vijesh Pillai.
According to a statement by Suresh last week, Pillai, on behalf of CPI(M) state secretary MV Govindan allegedly approached her with ₹30 crore offer to hand over her phones and other vital evidence related to chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan and his family members.
In the complaint filed at Taliparambha police station in Kannur district, K Santhosh, party area secretary, sought action against Suresh and Pillai for “running a dirty campaign” against the CM and CPI(M) state secretary M V Govindan.
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Santosh said that it was part of a larger conspiracy to defame the party secretary and trigger unrest and a riot-like situation against the government.
Against Suresh’s allegations, Govindan filed a defamation case against both Suresh and Pillai. Pillai, meanwhile, has said that he met Suresh with a proposal for an interview for the OTT platform, however, there was no discussion on politics or such offers.
In the police complaint, it is said that Suresh was making baseless remarks too often to mislead people and create hatred in society.
Earlier, Suresh also raised sexual assault charges against two former party ministers and the speaker alleging they troubled her by seeking sexual favours.
Suresh has also said that such cases will not intimidate her and she will go ahead with her plan to expose alleged partners in gold smuggling and the Life Mission project.
In February, a purported chat between chief minister’s additional private secretary C M Raveendran and Suresh surfaced suggesting that the duo were allegedly in touch and shared advice, following which Raveendran was summoned by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with alleged kickbacks in Life Mission project.
The alleged gold smuggling took place on July 5, 2020, after the customs department seized 30 kg of gold camouflaged as a diplomatic bag from a UAE consulate. Later, the customs arrested the main accused P S Sarith and the second accused Swapna Suresh, who was a former employee of the consulate.
The case was later handed over to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and ED and they arrested Sivasankar, a senior bureaucrat at that time.
After the incidents came to light, lockers of Suresh were searched in October 2020 during which the raiding party found ₹1 crore cash and two kg gold. However, Suresh reportedly told agencies that money was the commission received for a deal with the international aid agency ‘Red Crescent’ which funded the Life Mission project for flood victims in Vadakancherry in the Thrissur district.
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She said that Sivasankar asked her to keep his commission in her locker. Later it also came to light that no permission was taken from the union government for accepting foreign contributions for such a project. Sivasankar has however denied these charges saying he was implicated by the gold smuggling gangs.
The anti-corruption unit of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) also registered a case in October 2020 for violating the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA).