New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday queried the Enforcement Directorate whether diplomatic baggage can be scanned or it has immunity from search.
The matter was being considered by a bench comprising Justices Hrishikesh Roy and Satish Chandra Sharma. The bench asked Additional Solicitor General S V Raju, representing the Enforcement Directorate, "The question which arises for consideration is whether the Indian government can scan a diplomatic package. Can it be done? Whether there is immunity or not? What is the procedure?"
"Prima facie, if it is used for a crime then it can be and does not remain a diplomatic baggage," said Raju. However, the bench sought a specific answer to its query. Raju requested the apex court to give him some time to seek instructions on the issue.
The bench made this observation while hearing a plea filed by the central agency seeking the transfer of the trial in the gold smuggling case from Kerala to Karnataka. Several people, including M Sivasankar, a former principal secretary to Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, and another ex-employee of the UAE Consulate Sarith P S were arrested in connection with the case.
The central agency has claimed that a close nexus exists between the accused and top officials and functionaries of the Kerala government and on this basis it had contended before the apex court that a "free and fair trial" of the case is not possible in the state.
Swapna Suresh, a former employee of the UAE Consulate in Thiruvananthapuram, was taken into custody by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) along with another accused Sandeep Nair from Bengaluru on July 11, 2020. In July 2020, a racket was busted with the seizure of gold worth Rs 15 crore from the diplomatic baggage of the UAE Consulate at Thiruvananthapuram airport.
