Thiruvananthapuram: The confessions of Swapna Suresh, a key accused in the diplomatic gold smuggling case, have jolted investigators and her likely benefactors with links to the racket that extended from Kerala to the Middle East. Even as she claimed death threats from a few people who had visited her at Attakulangara jail, the Jail DGP Rishiraj Singh has trashed such a possibility.
The jail authorities rejected Swapna's allegations that she had faced threats inside the jail. The Prisons DGP even threatened to take legal action against BJP state president K Surendran for alleging that some people had visited Swapna in jail.
Apart from the officials of the Customs and the Enforcement Directorate, a Vigilance team was also among those who had visited Swapna in jail. They talked to Swapna for about five hours. Besides, the Jail DGP himself had met Swapna once and jail DIG Ajay Kumar had met her five times, according to official statements from the jail.
Swapna had claimed the persons who came and met her appeared to be either police personnel or jail staff. They came to jail on November 25 and reportedly threatened her several times.
Swapna had told about the perceived threat to her life to the ED officials who had visited the jail to question her on November 10 and also the Customs officials who followed the ED team.
It was when the ED asked Swapna for information about some prominent people mentioned in the WhatsApp messages that were recovered from her phone that she said that she was afraid to reveal the details.
Customs officials had told higher officials that the prison staff had been watching them while Swapna was being questioned in prison. It was following this that Customs took Swapna into its custody for questioning.
Meanwhile, a voice message said to be of Swapna also came out.