Kochi: Swapna Suresh, prime accused in the gold-smuggling case, on Thursday alleged in the Kerala High Court that LDF MLA K T Jaleel acted against the interests of India by trying to "hoodwink" the ruler of UAE into banning a Malayalam daily there for gaining political leverage in his party. Suresh has alleged, in an affidavit filed in the high court, that Jaleel, while he was a minister in the previous LDF government, tried to hoodwink the ruler of UAE by trying to wrongly depict a Malayalam daily's news reports as against that nation.
He did so by illegally writing a letter to the head of that country without having any authority to do so, she claimed. Suresh has also alleged that she was "forced" to go along with the "illegality" on instructions of the UAE Consul General in Kerala. "The action of K T Jaleel as a minister is in total violation of the oath of office as his action is in effect against the interest of our nation and its citizens including a news daily of this nation which is considered as the fourth pillar of our Constitution.
"Therefore the action of K T Jaleel in conspiring against the citizens and organizations of this nation while holding the Constitutional post of a Minister of State (Kerala) is in total violation of his oath of office and MEA protocol and therefore, is unconstitutional and anti-national and betrayal of people's confidence reposed in him as an elected representative," she has said in her affidavit.
Also read: CBI summons Swapna Suresh on July 11 in Life Mission Project of Pinarayi government
Suresh has also alleged that the purpose of registering a crime and conducting a police investigation into the revelations by her was to "torpedo" the ED probe in the smuggling case. She has also claimed that in order to establish that she made false and defamatory statements in her revelations, the police will have to ascertain the veracity of the same and that would amount to an investigation which is parallel to that of the ED.
Suresh has filed the affidavit in a plea moved by her in the high court seeking quashing of the FIR registered against her for allegedly conspiring to cause a riot in the state through her recent revelations. In her plea, Suresh has alleged that she was falsely implicated in the case and claimed that former minister, K T Jaleel had filed the complaint after she had given information about his "illegal activities" before the court.
In her plea, she has also alleged the involvement of Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, two of his family members, Jaleel, former Speaker P Sreeramakrishnan, former principal secretary to CM, M Sivasankar, and some top bureaucrats "in anti-national activities in UAE Consulate including gold smuggling".
Jaleel had recently lodged a complaint with the police following which a case was registered under Sections 153 (giving provocation with intent to cause a riot) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code against Suresh. (PTI)
