M Sivashankar, who is the former Principal Secretary to Chief Minister of Kerala and one of the main suspect in the high-profile gold smuggling case had the noose tightened around as a chartered accountant made a crucial statement with the Enforcement Directorate against him. Venugopal Iyer, the chartered accountant said that Sivasankar’s arguments thus far the case had been hollow. Swapna had apparently been introduced by Sivasankar to the office, where they have started a joint locker.
Notably, Sivasankar had mentioned that he had only introduced Swapna and had not asked her to open a joint locker. Venugopal said that the former had been with him until the meeting had ended, which according to him had lasted for several hours.
‘Talked to Swapna for hours in the presence of Sivasankar. An amount of ₹40 lakh was first deposited in the joint account. Later Swapna withdrew the amount at different times. Then asked to close the account,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Ernakulam Principal Sessions Court is yet to produce the verdict on Swapna Suresh’s bail plea in the case taken by the Enforcement Directorate.