The Kerala high court on Friday quashed the charges slapped on Swapna Suresh, the main accused in the gold smuggling case that came to light in July last year, under the Conservation of Foreign Exchange and Prevention of Smuggling Activities Act. Suresh’s mother moved the court in July arguing such charges can only be invoked against habitual offenders and not someone facing the first such case.
A division bench of Justices A K Jayashankaran Nambiar and C P Mohammad Nias quashed the charges, but Suresh will remain in judicial custody as other cases are pending against her.
The petition filed through counsel Sooraj T E challenged Suresh’s custody and said it was “illegal, arbitrary and vitiated by improper application of mind”. It added usually habitual offenders will come under its ambit and Suresh was wrongly included on the list. The court overruled the customs department’s objections while quashing the charges. The charges have also been invoked against Sandeep Nair, the other accused in the case.
Suresh and Nair were booked when 30 kg gold hidden in bathroom fittings was seized from a consignment camouflaged as diplomatic baggage for the United Arab Emirates Consulate in Thiruvananthapuram. The case was later handed over to the National Investigation Agency, which arrested Suresh and Nair.
Kerala chief minister’s principal secretary M Sivasankar was arrested in the case. Sivasankar, who was later suspended, has since been granted bail.
Four central agencies have failed to make much headway in the case other than initial arrests. The main beneficiaries and dispatchers are at large. The union and state governments were involved in a tussle over the matter. The state government even constituted a judicial commission against the Enforcement Directorate (ED), a first of its sort, saying there was an alleged attempt to implicate chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan. The high court quashed the commission.
