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In another blow for the Left alliance in Kerala, the All India Congress Committee (AICC) General Secretary Randeep Singh Surjewala on Monday (29 March) accused Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan of having a “secret understanding” with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, reports India Today.

A tweet sent out from the official account of Surjewala says, “Deception-Duplicity-Dishonesty are hallmarks of disastrous 5yrs of LDF Govt in Kerala. Shri Pinarayi Vijayan is a replica of Shri Narendra Modi, in Authoritarian style & running a self-centered Autocratic Govt  (sic)”.

An official statement from the Congress was also attached to the tweet.

Deception-Duplicity-Dishonesty are hallmarks of disastrous 5yrs of LDF Govt in Kerala

Shri Pinarayi Vijayan is a replica of Shri Narendra Modi, in Authoritarian style & running a self-centered Autocratic Govt
 
Pinarayi-Nomics has destroyed Kerala’s progressive march

Statement- pic.twitter.com/iu0jJRMyJL

— Randeep Singh Surjewala (@rssurjewala) March 30, 2021

The reason for this salvo is because so far “no FIR has been registered” against the Kerala CM in the gold smuggling case, said Surjewala.

“There seems to be a secret understanding between Kerala CM and PM Modi. Is the decision to purchase 300-megawatt wind power from Adani group for a long period of 25 years at about 8,700 crores to cover up the gold smuggling case? Is no FIR registered against CM and other ministers by ED, income tax a part of this understanding?”, Surjewala said at a press conference at the party headquarters in Thiruvananthapuram.

“What is the secret understanding between CPM and BJP in Kerala? What is the deal between CM Vijayan and PM Modi? Is it not correct that 300-megawatt wind power for 25 years has been purchased by Kerala government at rates of ₹2.85 and ₹ 2.90 from Adani group at a cost that will be over ₹8,700 crores?,” said Randeep Surjewala.

Swapna Suresh, the primary accused in the gold smuggling case, had also accused Kerala Speaker P Sreeramakrishnan of immoral behaviour.

However, the Kerala Chief Minister is immune to what is happening around him. Pinarayi Vijayan, in an interview, said, “There are no severe allegations against my government. It is because there is no corruption in Kerala. My government is corruption-free. During polls, there is nothing much to say. So, some things are made up during election season.”

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As the election campaign for the Kerala state polls enters its last stage, a new and stunning revelation has come forth in the high-profile gold smuggling case. The key accused Swapna Suresh has told the Enforcement Directorate that the speaker of the Kerala Legislative Assembly, P Sreeramakarishnan, called her to his flat with “dirty intentions”, reports the New Indian Express.

“He told me about the flat’s real ownership to convince me to feel safe as he used to call me there with some personal dirty intentions,” she is quoted as saying in the deposition. She said that when she did not agree, he refused to give the job he had offered her at Middle East College, Oman, in which he allegedly has an investment, the report states.

According to the document accessed by the New Indian Express, Swapna told the agency: “Sreeramakrishnan had called me to the flat in Marutham apartment and told me that it was his ‘hideout’. I went there along with Sarith (another accused in the gold smuggling case) to meet him. However, as I didn’t agree with his ‘personal interests’, the role offered to me in the Middle East college was also cancelled.”

This revelation comes at a time when the Pinarayi Vijayan-led LDF government has been trying hard to push the central agencies probing the gold smuggling and related cases on the back foot using various means. 

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As the assembly elections in Kerala draw closer, Union Home Minister Amit Shah in a campaign speech in Kanjirappally asked some tough questions to the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) government.

“I have seven questions for Vijayan ji – Did the prime accused in the gold smuggling case work in your office or not? Did your government give this accused ₹3 lakh per month? Did your Principal Secretary make phone calls to help these accused or not?” he asked.

“Did the accused woman make foreign trips on state funds and with Principal Secretary’s permission? Why did she come to the chief minister’s residence regularly? Did you build pressure on Customs office after gold was seized from the airport? Was attack on ED/Customs officers probed properly?” he further said.

“There have been two floods in Kerala, and over 500 people lost their lives. Left govt calls our army very late, only for their own political mileage. They do not care about the lives of the people of Kerala,” said Shah.

“LDF and UDF governments have made Kerala a hub of corruption. When UDF comes to power, there is a solar light scam and during LDF’s tenure, there are donor and gold scams,” he added.

“BJP believes that governments should not intervene in issues related to temples. It should be left to devotees. Communist party cadres, dressed in police attire, have mistreated Sabarimala bhakts,” Shah said speaking in Chathannoor.

“There are was a time when Kerala was considered as the role model of tourism and development. It was known as the most educated and peace-loving state. LDF and UDF governments have made Kerala a hub of corruption,” he added.

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In an important turn of events, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Tuesday (2 February) released the details of terrorist links in the Kerala gold smuggling case that has rocked the Pinarayi Vijayan government in Kerala.

In the charge sheet filed by the NIA against 20 accused, it has stated that the defendants formed a terrorist group and planned to destroy the economy of the nation.
 
NIA in its charge sheet also released the information that the defendants recruited people into the group and raised funds, including from abroad to form the terrorist group.
 
The group’s aim was to create chaos in India to stop the economic growth of the nation and also create a diplomatic and political rift between India and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) which has large Kerala Muslim diaspora. 

The group had taken advantage of the diplomatic channel for smuggling the gold and so far nine accused have been arrested in connection with the case. 

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A vocal critic of the LDF government and the growing Islamic fundamentalism in Kerala S V Pradeep who was a popular journalist in Kerala was killed in a hit and run incident in Thiruvananthapuram on Monday (December 16).

Pradeep for a while had received life threats both online and offline and on Monday, he was travelling on his scooter when a tipper lorry which came from behind hit his vehicle and sped away without stopping.

Incidentally, there were no CCTV cameras in the area where the accident took place.

Immediately there was outrage in social media and many called his death as a well-planned murder and called for a CBI enquiry into the incident. His supporters and well-wishers say they have no trust in Kerala police which comes under the LDF government

Pradeep was a veteran journalist and had worked with major media outlets like News 18, Jai Hind, Mediaone, Mangalam and Kairali and to his credit he had done several news breakings on the gold smuggling case which directly pointed fingers at the state government and the Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.
 
For a long time, Pradeep had earned the ire of both Communists and Islamists due to his reporting.
 
Union Minister V. Muraleedharan, BJP Kerala president K Surendran, Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala and other political leaders have called for a detailed investigation to find the real culprits. 

The Kerala Union of Working Journalist has demanded a probe into the death of S V Pradeep.

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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.

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M Sivasankar, the former Principal Secretary at the Kerala CMO was interrogated on Saturday regarding the gold smuggling case. He arrived in Kochi on Saturday and was questioned by the Enforcement Directorate.

They questioned him on this case as well as probed based on the money laundering case that was suspected to be happening through diplomatic channels. He was questioned for more than 5 hrs. There was already an earlier investigation conducted at his residence in Thiruvananthapuram. These interrogations are following the revelations of Swapna closeness with Sivasankar, as well as the reports released based on the fact that he was completely aware of her dubious identity.

Notably, the three primary suspects of this case, Swapna Suresh, Sandeep Nair, and Sarith PS were sent to the custody of the Enforcement Directorate on Friday and are to remain in their custody till August 17th.

The Kerala gold smuggling case dealt with smuggling of gold into the state through diplomatic channels. This came to light after 30 kilograms gold worth of ₹14.82 crores were smuggled through a consignment camouflaged as diplomatic baggage. Following this, a series of investigations were launched to crack down the kingpins in this case. Swapna Suresh, one of the main kingpins was cracked down by the Kerala Police on July11, following the arrests of her accomplices Sarith, Sandeep Nair, and Fazil. Swapna, Sandeep, Sarith and Fazil Fareed are the four main accused in the gold smuggling case that has rattled Kerala.

#KeralaGoldSmugglingCase: M Sivasankar, former principal secretary of Kerala CM leaves Enforcement Directorate office in Kochi after being questioned for around 5 hours. https://t.co/DlkNoi0PMe pic.twitter.com/cPBwMa0Di9

— ANI (@ANI) August 15, 2020

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The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has arrested six persons including Mohammed Ali, belonging to the radical Muslim fundamentalist Islamic group Popular Front of India (PFI) during its investigation in Kerala Gold Smuggling case, Swarajya reported.

Mohammed Ali is among those charge-sheeted in the brutal attack on Prof T.J Joseph in 2010 and his hand was cut off at the wrist as punishment on allegation of blasphemy.

After the incident, the Christian minority institution suspended Joseph for ‘hurting’ the religious sentiments of a community. Mohammed Ali and the other attackers were charge-sheeted by Kerala Police in 2011 only to be acquitted later.

On August 1, Mohammed Ali and Muvattupuzha resident Muhammad Ebrahim were arrested by NIA officers in Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu. At present, the NIA has arrested 10 persons in the gold smuggling case.

During search operations, the NIA found 2 hard disks, 1 tablet PC, 8 mobile phones, 6 SIM cards, 1 Digital Video Recorder and 5 DVDs. Besides various documents including bank passbooks, credit/ debit cards, travel documents and identity documents of the accused have also been gathered as evidence.

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The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has switched its probe in the gold smuggling case to the terror funding angle, and this has struck fear in the heart of the Kerala Chief Minister. The chair of Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan stands threatened, as his name has been dragged down in the gold smuggling scam.

The National Investigation Agency arrested the prime accused of the case whilst they had been on the run and cited that this case might have serious implications on national security. The accused were then booked under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA).

Pinarayi Vijayan has been under the radar ever since the CMO’s intervention in the “diplomatic cargo” case to clear the names of Swapna Suresh and her accomplices. Despite the fact that the Chief Minister has been maintaining that Price Waterhouse Coopers (PwC) was responsible for Swapna’s appointment, the fact remains that the call records point in the opposite direction.

The CM has also been constantly in defence of his close associate Sivasankar, who is considered to be one of the the top guns in this case. Many consider this as a returning of favour, since he had defended Vijayan when the Sprinklr data scam had thrown the LDF government under the bus earlier this year. Following this, there have been constant rallies and protests by the opposition calling for Vijayan’s resignation, as reported by the Organiser. 

“There is no scope for a probe into the case when Pinarayi Vijayan is continuing as Chief Minister. If he has ethics, he should resign from the post and face a probe into the case,” : @surendranbjp #ResignKeralaCMhttps://t.co/CY4ilFh6vt

— BJP KERALAM (@BJP4Keralam) July 21, 2020

CM @vijayanpinarayi must be interrogated in the #KeralaGoldSmuggling case. The case has direct links with him. He and his office must be questioned. Besides NIA, CBI must join & probe all angles like corruption, nepotism and misuse of CMO.#CorruptLDFGovt #PinarayiMustAnswer pic.twitter.com/0DQo42oPYM

— Ramesh Chennithala (@chennithala) July 19, 2020

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