Kannur: CPM State Secretary MV Govindan filed a defamation suit against Swapna Suresh, the prime accused in the sensational gold smuggling case on Monday.

The CPM leader arrived at the First Class Judicial Magistrate Court at Taliparamba in person to file the case.

The legal step comes in the context of the Kerala High Court staying the First Information Report (FIR) in the petition filed by the Taliparamba area secretary of the party, K Santosh, against Swapna.

Govindan is filing the petition against Swapna Suresh for the alleged defamatory remarks made against him through a Facebook live session.

Swapa had claimed that a middleman acting on behalf on Govindan, Vijesh Pillai aka Vijay Pillai, had offered to pay her a total settlement amount of Rs 30 crore for handing over information on the chief minister, his family members and CM's additional private secretary CM Raveendran.

In the notice, Govindan stated that Swapna's remarks were false and baseless as he did not know Vijay Pillai, his true identity or whereabouts.

Govindan had earlier sent legal notices to Swapna and Vijesh Pillai, demanding the withdrawal of Swapna’s remark and seeking damages of Rs 1 crore. The notice observed that Swapna's remarks, which were viewed by the public and were widely published in all leading English and Malayalam newspapers and telecasted in all Malayalam news channels, has discredited Govindan.

Even though Vijesh Pillai denied the charges in the notice, Swapna Suresh did not respond. It is following this development that a criminal case and a suit for damages for defamation are being filed in the court.

Following a plea by Swapna, the High Court had stayed for six months the FIR in the case registered by the Taliparamba police on the petition filed by K Santosh against Swapna and Vijesh Pillai.