The State government on Tuesday submitted before the Kerala High Court that the Crime Branch (CB) would conclude the investigation in the conspiracy cases registered against Swapna Suresh, accused in the diplomatic gold smuggling case, in a month and file a final report before the court concerned.
The submission was made by Director General of Prosecution T.A. Shaji when a petition filed by Swapna seeking to quash the cases registered against her came up for hearing before Justice Ziyad Rahman A.A.
Mr. Shaji further submitted that the Crime Branch had a wealth of materials to implicate her in the case .The probe had substantially progressed and a final report would be filed in a month. There was no scope for the court to interfere with the case at this stage.
He submitted that the statement filed under Section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure by Swapna could only be considered as a confessional statement. It was a statement in a case registered by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). The ED had its own axe to grind.
He submitted that there was a well-planned conspiracy behind the public statement made by Swapna immediately after giving a statement before the magistrate. The entire State had witnessed politically motivated wanton rioting and violence and a breach of peace following the statement. The violence was the outcome of an orchestrated and well thought out plan. The statement made by the petitioner was nothing but malicious, culpable, and irresponsible.
R. Krishna Raj, counsel for Swapna, submitted that the attempt of the Crime Branch was to put pressure on her to withdraw the statement given before the magistrate court as, otherwise, a probe into her allegations would lead to the Chief Minister’s Office. The cases were registered against her to protect the ruling political dispensation and to prevent the investigation of the ED.
He argued that the State police wanted to torpedo the investigation by the ED. The State had earlier attempted to stall and derail the investigation by Central agencies by registering a crime against investigating officer of the ED.
The political agitations launched by some parties in the wake of her statement before the media could not be termed rioting. The counsel also pleaded that the investigation in the conspiracy cases be deferred till the ED filed a final report in the case.
The court, meanwhile, reserved its verdict on the petition.
