Sandeep Nair, one of the accused in the diplomatic channel gold smuggling case, has written to the Ernakulam District Sessions Judge complaining that an official of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) had forced him to name the Chief Minister, State Ministers and the son of a prominent person in the gold smuggling case.
In his letter, which was forwarded to the court through the Superintendent of the Central Jail, Sandeep submitted that the ED official P. Radhakrishnan, the investigation officer in the Prevention of Money Laundering Case, offered not to oppose his bail application if he named the Chief Minister, State Ministers and the son of a prominent person in the case.
He submitted that the ED official approached him with a set of names, which included some prominent persons, and wanted him to name them all in the case. The official, submitted Sandeep in his three-page letter to the court, while offering not to oppose his bail application, also made an offer to arrange a good lawyer for him in the case if he gave a statement that the prominent persons had invested money for gold smuggling.
The accused, who submitted that he was in custody for more than eight months, said he feared for his life if not released on bail. Sandeep submitted that the ED officials tortured and threatened him and denied him sleep while in custody.
The accused submitted that the ED official cooked up several false information, which had no connection with the case and included them in the final complaint. At the same time, the court sought a report from the ED on the letter submitted by the accused and posted the case for March 26.
Meanwhile, Speaker P. Sreeramakrishnan did not turn up before the Customs in connection with the case of smuggling of foreign currency. The Speaker had informed the Customs, which had served him a notice to appear for interrogation on Friday at 11 a.m., that he cannot appear before the agency on the day.
