Trivandrum: Sleuths of the NIA, probing the Kerala gold smuggling case, on Tuesday visited the office of an autonomous institution under the state Higher Education department and gathered information on it allegedly facilitating distribution of the Holy Quran brought from the UAE through the diplomatic channel.
In a related development, a special court in Kochi sent Swapna Suresh, a key accused in the gold smuggling using diplomatic baggage, to four days custody of the National Investigation Agency (NIA).
Reaching the Kerala State Centre for Advanced Printing and Training (C-apt) office in Thiruvananthapuram on Tuesday morning, NIA officials sought details from its employees, including an official and a driver, regarding the distribution of Quran, brought from the UAE consulate in Thiruvananthapuram, official sources said.
The development comes days after Higher Education Minister Jaleel was questioned by the NIA at its Kochi office in connection with the case and the opposition Congress and BJP continued their protests seeking his resignation, alleging that gold was smuggled under the pretext of importing Quran.
Read:|Kerala gold smuggling: Protests demanding KT Jaleel's resignation turn violent
Sources in the Central agencies probing the case had claimed that the consignments of Holy Quran were brought to C-apt before distribution at various places using its vehicles.
Official sources said that the NIA gathered information in detail from the C-apt officials on the Quran packets brought from the UAE consulate.
The Kochi court allowed four days NIA custody of Suresh, a former employee of the UAE consulate arrested by the agency from Bengaluru along with another accused Sandeep Nair.