Kochi: The Enforcement Directorate is now on the trail of the real owner of 1 kg gold recovered by National Investigation Agency (NIA) from a bank locker during the investigations into the diplomatic gold smuggling case.
With the ED all set to confiscate the gold recovered from the locker under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), the onus will now be on the accused to disclose the source of wealth for releasing the confiscated gold.
The gold was recovered from the locker jointly owned by Swapna Suresh and bureaucrat M Sivasankar's chartered accountant Venugopal. Swapna had claimed that the gold was gifted by her father at the time of her marriage. However, the ED is not ready to buy that theory. It argues that Swapna's family did not have the financial capacity to give 1 kg gold when her marriage took place 20 years ago. Moreover, most of the jewellery found in the locker is made in new style and design.
The ED's assumption is that Swapna kept the gold in locker for someone on Sivasankar’s instructions. Even though the ED asked 12 questions on this issue to chief minister’s additional private secretary C M Raveendran, the latter didn't give specific reply to any of these queries.
Taking into account the non-cooperation of the accused and suspects, the ED decided to confiscate the gold.