The Kerala High Court on April 12 dismissed a petition seeking a directive to the Customs and Enforcement Directorate (ED) to investigate the alleged role of the high-ranking political functionaries including Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and his family members and former Speaker P. Sreeramakrishnan in the diplomatic gold-smuggling case.
Dismissing the petition filed by Aji Krishnan, founder secretary of NGO Highrange Rural Development Society (HRDS), Justice Bechu Kurian Thomas observed that the Customs and ED have conduced or are conducting an investigation into the case.
Gold smuggling in one decade: Kerala ranks third in country
“The petitioner had not produced any material to arrive at a conclusion that that no proper investigation was being conducted into the case and that the investigation would proceed contrary to the law. There were no reasons to assume that if involvement of any persons is revealed during the investigation, they would not be proceeded against. The apprehension of the petitioner that there would not be any proper and just investigation was without any basis,” the court added.
The petitioner in his petition said that despite clear and unambiguous statements made by Swapna Suresh and Sarith, accused in the diplomatic gold smuggling and money-laundering cases regarding the involvement of high-ranking political functionaries, the ED and Customs had failed to investigate her allegations.
When the petition came up for hearing, Advocate General K. Gopalakrishna Kurup contended that the petitioner had a long association with Swapana Suresh who was once employed in the HRD. Besides, he did not reveal in his petition that a crime was registered against him, and that his petition seeking bail in the case was pending before the court.
COMMents
SHARE