Kerala gold smuggling case prime accused Suresh admitted to hospital

The Kerala gold smuggling case's prime accused Swapna Suresh was on late Monday was taken to the state-run Medical College Hospital after she complained of a chest pain.

Swapna, who is presently in judicial custody and lodged at the Viyur jail near here, complained of uneasiness, and was taken to the hospital, where she is being examined.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA), which had taken over the case, had arrested Swapna and her associate Sandip Nair from Bengaluru on July 11, after they were on the run since July 5 following the arrest of an accomplice by the Customs Department.

Her bail plea was last month rejected by the special NIA court at Kochi and since her arrest she has been questioned on numerous occasions by the various central agencies, including the Enforcement Directorate and the Customs.

The gold smuggling case first surfaced when P.S. Sarith, a former employee of the UAE Consulate here, was arrested by the Customs on July 5 when he was facilitating smuggling of 30 kg gold in diplomatic baggage to Thiruvananthapuram from Dubai.

It turned murkier when the name of Swapna, a former employee of the Consulate, and the employed with the IT Department, surfaced and more so, when her links with powerful IAS official M. Sivasankar, who held the dual posts of Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and the state IT Secretary, came out.

Sivasankkar was subsequently removed from the posts and then suspended from service.

--IANS

sg/vd