National Investigation Agency (NIA) has filed a case in connection with last year’s sensational Kerala gold smuggling case, which the Kerala high court will hear on Thursday. The court will hear all of the accused’s bail requests, including Swapna Suresh’s, who is accused of smuggling 167kg of gold into India through diplomatic channels from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) between November 2019 and June 2020.
The NIA, which opposes any potential relief for Swapna Suresh in the case, told the Kerala high court in the most recent hearing that she and the others committed a “terrorist act” by attempting to smuggle gold into India through official channels, knowing full well that they were doing so.
Suresh, KT Ramees, Sandeep Nair, and P S Sarith were among seven accused in the Kerala gold smuggling case who were denied bail by an NIA court on March 22.
Swapna Suresh later appealed the order to the Supreme Court.
Suresh questioned the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) charge against her in her bail plea and claimed that the trial was being dragged out indefinitely for no apparent reason. She also accused the authorities of falsely accusing her in the case, claiming that she had been granted bail in the customs and PMLA cases involving the same alleged gold smuggling criminal activity.
The NIA has filed a statement of objections in response to her petition. Suresh and the others were aware that their actions would harm India’s relations with the UAW, according to the investigating agency, which informed the Kerala high court. As a result, these acts qualify as “terrorist activity, conspiracy, and being a member of a terror organisation” under the UAPA.
“Investigation conducted by NIA has established that prime accused Sarith, co-accused Swapna Suresh and others, with the knowledge that their act of smuggling of gold into India in large quantity would threaten the security and economic security of the country, destabilise the Indian economy and damage the friendly relations with UAE, conjointly committed the terrorist act,” the NIA said its application to the court, opposing Suresh’s bail plea.
On July 16, a Kerala high court bench of Justices K Vinod Chandran and Ziyad Rahman A A adjourned the pleas of Suresh and others until July 29 to await the Supreme Court’s decision on the NIA’s appeal against the bail granted earlier by the trial court and the high court to another batch of accused in the case.
