Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has said that he has no knowledge of any collusion between senior police officers and the accused in the UAE diplomatic channel gold smuggling case. He, however, vowed stringent action against any officer found to have any involvement.
Responding to questions raised in the Assembly on Monday, the Chief Minister said that it was up to the Customs to probe the alleged role of middlemen who purportedly deterred the prime accused, Swapna Suresh, from making any fresh revelations in the case.
While the gold smuggling case was being investigated by the Customs, the Kerala Police have registered two cases on the basis of complaints by K.T. Jaleel, MLA, at the Cantonment police station in Thiruvananthapuram and Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] leader C.P. Pramod at the Kasaba police station in Palakkad following the statements made by the prime accused, Mr. Vijayan said, adding that a special investigation team supervised by the Additional Director General of Police (Crime Branch) had been formed for the probe.
Responding to allegations that the public were denied freedom of movement in places he travelled to, Mr. Vijayan said the norms that had been laid down by the Union Home Ministry were being adhered to since the Chief Minister had been provided Z Plus security cover.
He added that no rules had been violated by the police in the incident in which a family was stopped by the police while they were on their way home amid the tight security arrangements implemented in view of his recent visit to Kottayam.
While replying to another set of questions posed by the Opposition members, the Chief Minister said he had sought explanation from the District Police Chiefs on allegations raised regarding the unannounced ban on wearing black masks and black shirts at functions he had attended. Reiterating that no such directive had been issued, he said no attempt had been made to infringe upon the rights guaranteed in the Constitution. Two transgenders had been placed under preventive arrest under Section 151 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (Cr.PC) at the Kaloor metro station for attempting to barge into a function he was attending, Mr. Vijayan said
