Kochi: When Swapna Suresh and Sandeep Nair, two of the four main accused in the diplomatic baggage gold smuggling racket, were fleeing Kerala, they had handed over a bag with Rs 40 lakh to a former jeweller in Alappuzha.
However, when the Customs Department found the bag at the Thiruvananthapuram residence of P S Sarith Kumar, the first accused in the case, it had Rs 26 lakh missing. The officials recovered only Rs 14 lakh.
The former jewellery owner is close to Swapna and her family. Sources said that Swapna’s audio clip that was aired on TV Channels was handed over to the media by this person.
The investigating officials will record his statement soon.
According to sources, the bag was placed at Sarith’s home after he was arrested by the Customs Department and after the National Investigation Agency (NIA) took over the case. Officials suspect someone who had paid for gold smuggling may have taken the missing money from the bag before hiding it in Sarith's house.
While she was on the run after the case was busted on July 5, Swapna went to Alappuzha from her hiding location in Varkala to leave her children — a daughter and a son — at the former jeweller’s house. He, however, told her that her children would not be safe at his house and booked a hotel in Ernakulam for them.
Swapna, along with her husband and children, and Sandeep Nair, another accused in the case, left Thiruvananthapuram on July 5, the day Sarith was arrested, and reached the Varkala hideout. They stayed at the place for two days.
It was while staying here that they had arranged for a COVID pass to travel through Tamil Nadu to reach Bengaluru.
On July 7, they went to Kochi to meet a lawyer to move an anticipatory bail application in the Kerala High Court. They first stayed in a hotel near the shipyard and then moved to a place owned by Swapna’s friend in Thripunithura.
They left for Bengaluru via Thrissur, Palakkad and Salem, on July 9.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) arrested Swapna and Sandeep from a service apartment in Koramangala 7th block in Bengaluru on July 11.
