Bengaluru: Vijesh Pillai, the alleged intermediary named by Swapna Suresh, the key accused in the gold smuggling case that has rocked Kerala politics, was questioned by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday.
Vijesh Pillai told Manorama News that he was summoned by the ED.
The Kannur native also dismissed the claims made by Swapna that he had tried to silence her by offering her several crores of rupees in a bid to safeguard powerful political leaders, their kin and bureaucrats over their roles in several dubious deals.
"I had met Swapna in Bengaluru during the talks of a web series," he said while also clarifying that he had seen CPM State Secretary MV Govindan only on television.
"She came to meet me with her children. She was also accompanied by Sarith. We were in a public place. How can I threaten her in such a situation?," he said.
"During our discussion, I offered her 30 per cent share from the revenue once the web series was released. She would get Rs 30 cr from the content generated, if we generate a revenue of Rs100 cr as per my estimates," Vijesh Pillai said.
Vijesh also said that he had casually mentioned that Govindan was a known politician from his native place.
In a Facebook live session on Thursday, Swapna, the prime accused in the gold smuggling case linked to the UAE Consulate, had alleged that Vijesh met her in Bengaluru on the pretext of an interview.
“Acting on behalf of Govindan, he offered to pay me a total settlement amount of Rs 30 crore for handing over all the information or evidence about the chief minister, his family members and CM's additional private secretary CM Raveendran,” Swapna claimed on social media.
I was also told that my life would be endangered if I refused to oblige, she added.
Swapna had also released visuals of him meeting her and the screenshots of email messages.
Who is Vijesh Pillai
According to reports, Vijesh Pillai, known as Vijay Koiloth, is a native of Morazha in Kannur district.
The documents released by Swapna state that he is the CEO of WGN Infotech of Kochi. This firm is no longer functional and its address mentioned in the documents released by Swapna cannot be located.
The documents also suggest that he is the CEO of an entity named “Action OTT”. Old films were streamed on this OTT platform.
The owner of the building where the company was functioning said the office was closed down in just six months after it started functioning sometime in 2017.
The rent for the office is yet to be paid, he added.
