Swapna Suresh, an accused in the UAE diplomatic channel gold smuggling case, has said that she had received calls on Saturday threatening to kill her if she spoke of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, his family members and former Minister K.T. Jaleel to investigators probing the case.
Following this, I had submitted a petition before State Police Chief Anil Kant along with screenshots and recording of the call. The threatening calls from a person, who said he was calling on behalf of Maradu Aneesh, a history sheeter, seemed to be aimed at derailing my deposition before the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
This was the first time that she was receiving such a threat directly from a phone. Such calls were earlier through the internet, she told mediapersons here on Sunday.
Swapna had recently sought protection by Central forces for her and her family under the Witness Protection Scheme, 2018, stating that she had lost trust in Kerala police. Referring to summons issued to her by the Crime Branch (CB), she wondered how she would appear before both ED and CB, for a case that was already being probed by the ED.
She alleged that the police had been threatening her house owner after she shifted to a rented house in Kochi. I shifted here since agencies probing the case and my lawyers were based here, she said.
The ED had recently informed the Special Court for cases booked under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act that it was devoid of any mechanism or alternative to provide Central government protection to Swapna.
