Thiruvananthapuram: The phone call records of gold smuggling case accused Swapna Suresh have thrown up the names of several higher-ups, including an assistant commissioner of police.
The officer in the DySP rank in Thiruvananthapuram city had called Swapna around 1pm on June 26. Allegations were raised against this officer earlier too.
An officer in the ADGP rank had sent an SMS to Swapna in the last one month. Phone calls were also made between a prominent flat builder in the city and Swapna. Phone numbers of two mediapersons were also found on the list.
Sixteen phone calls were made between an attache of the UAE Consulate and Swapna on July 3 when the diplomatic cargo with gold reached the Consulate. Fourteen of these calls were made by the attache to Swapna.
The Customs had seized 30kg gold from the diplomatic baggage addressed to the UAE Consulate in Thiruvananthapuram. Three of the accused P S Sarith, Swapna Suresh and Sandeep Nair have been arrested in the case.
Minister & staff too
Swapna and first accused P S Sarith had also contacted Minister K T Jaleel and his staff Nazar over the phone. Nine calls were made from Jaleel's phone number to Swapna's phone in June. Swapna returned the call once. Jaleel had also sent one SMS to Swapna.
Jaleel's staff member Nazar made calls to accused Sarith's phone number. Nasar had spoken to Sarith on June 23 and 24, July 3. These are the days when the gold was smuggled in, as per the information received by the Customs
Fourteen calls were made from senior IAS official Sivasankar's phone to Swapna and Sarith during a month. They also spoke late into the night. Sivasankar had come under the scanner after his ties with Swapna were revealed.
Spoke for less than 15 minutes: Jaleel
Minister K T Jaleel has said that he had spoken for less than 15 minutes with Swapna over several phone calls. The minister claimed that he had only spoken official matters as per the instructions of the UAE Consul General.
“My personal staff also called her over the same matter. They spoke for a maximum of 10 minutes. There are voice recordings of the phone calls made by the gunman,” he explained. The minister asserted that he had all the records and any probe agency can check these at any time.
"I personally call all officials from village assistant to the Chief Secretary and any individual for any matter concerning the public," the minister added.
