Palakkad: PS Sarith, the first accused in the diplomatic gold smuggling case, was picked up by the Vigilance sleuths even as co-accused and ex-colleague Swapna Suresh reiterated her charges against Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Wednesday.
Sarith was let off after he was quizzed on the Life Mission graft case, the Vigilance authorities said.
He was neither abducted nor taken into custody, they confirmed.
Sarith came along with us as we arrived to take his statement, the Vigilance officials stated.
Meanwhile, Sarith said that he forcefully taken away by Vigilance officials on Wednesday.
"I was forcefully taken away by the Vigilance officials. My arm was injured in the process. I wasn't given any notice till we reached the Vigilance office. They asked me about Swapna's recent allegations," he said.
Sarith added that he was asked to be present at the Vigilance office on June 16.
Swpana alleges Sarith was abducted
Swapna, who is a co-accused in the case, had claimed that Sarith was abducted from his residence while speaking to the media in Palakkad on Wednesday.
A four-member-gang abducted Sarith from her Palakkad flat by posing as cops, she said.
"They did not show any identity card," Swapna said.
Soon after Swapna's claim on Sarith's abduction, a police team headed by the Palakkad Deputy Superintendent of Police (DySP) began a probe. They reached Sarith's residence and examined the CCTV visuals.
Sarith not questioned
Since the Palakkad unit of vigilance has nothing to do with the Life Mission case, Sarith was apparently not subjected to any questioning regarding the matter. The phone was sent to vigilance headquarters Thiruvananthapuram and the same was intimated to Sarith, vigilance sources said.
The whisking away of Sarith by vigilance team had caused huge embarrassment for the local police. In fact the local police kept searching for Sarith for more than an hour as news about his alleged kidnapping flashed on TV channels.
It is understood that only the higher-ups in Palakkad district police were aware about Sarith being taken into custody by vigilance team.
Vigilance action violative of set procedures
Even though the vigilance has the powers to take a person onto custody, the manner in which Sarith was picked up without giving a notice and his phone was taken into custody, these actions are seen as violation of the set procedures laid down for the purpose.
The investigations into the life mission case which has been cited as the reason for taking Sarith into custody, has come to a halt since past six months.
Even in the infamous actor assault case , the crime branch had sought custody of the mobile phones of the accused only through the court.
Swapna and Sarith were colleagues at the Thiruvananthapuram Consulate of the United Arab Emirates. It was in mid-2020 that the Customs busted a smuggling racket linked to the consulate. The probe revealed that consular staff were hand in glove with gold smugglers in Kerala and the Middle East. They used the diplomatic baggage to carry out smuggling. Money laundering also was likely attempted by the syndicate that enjoyed political patronage.