The applications of the State Crime Branch and the Vigilance and Anti Corruption Bureau (VACB) seeking copies of the recent statements of Swapna Suresh, the accused in the diplomatic channel gold smuggling case, was turned down by the District Court.
The Crime Branch, which had booked a case in Thiruvananthapuram, on a complaint from K. . Jaleel, MLA, alleging that Swapna and others had hatched conspiracy to defame the Chief Minister and others, wanted the copy of the statement to probe the conspiracy angle.
The VACB was keen on obtaining the copy of the statement of Swapna, which was given before a magistrate by invoking the Section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, as part of its probe into the kickbacks paid in the LIFE Mission project at Vadakkancherry, argued Public Prosecutor P. A. George Joseph.
Court stand
However, the District Judge Honey M. Varghese declined the pleas by noting that the copies of the statements given under Section 164 can be obtained only by the investigation officer in the case.
The court noted that the two investigation agencies could be considered as only third parties in the case as the statement was given in a case probed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
Incidentally, Swapna was arraigned as an accused in the Prevention of Money Laundering Case booked by the ED in connection with the diplomatic channel gold smuggling case.
The ED case is that the accused laundered the ill-gotten wealth from the predicate offence of gold smuggling, and hence the accused were liable to be prosecuted.
Swapna’s plea seeking protection from a central agency was posted for June 22 after Vinu Raj, the counsel for the ED, sought time for filing his objection.
The anticipatory bail plea of Krishnaraj, the lawyer of Swapna, will come up before the court on Friday.
