In a fresh development in the sinister Kerala gold smuggling case, the Kerala High Court quashed the two FIRs registered against Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials by the Crime Branch unit of state police.
The court’s ruling comes as a huge setback for Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in the gold smuggling case, after he gave his consent to the Crime Branch unit to register cases against ED officials for allegedly coercing prime accused Swapna Suresh into giving statements implicating Vijayan.
The Crime Branch’s case against the ED was based on a complaint by two women police officials in charge of providing security to Swapna Suresh who allegedly overheard the ED pressurising her to name Vijayan when Swapna Suresh was in judicial custody.
On Friday, Justice V G Arun ruled that the Crime Branch had not followed the rule of law and hence the two FIRs have to be quashed. The ruling added that the authorities can take up the case with the concerned court.
Senior Congress legislator V D Sateeshan said, “All this went ahead because it was Assembly election time and Vijayan wanted to portray a false image that he is one who will take on anything to gain the confidence of the people, especially when he was leading the Left front in the election. This is similar to the fight that takes place in the circus ring, when everyone knows it’s a fake one”.
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