Suresh and Sarith had moved a joint plea seeking protection from arrest in the case lodged by the police on the complaint of a ruling Left Democratic Front MLA's complaint alleging conspiracy behind her revelations against him, the chief minister and his family.
Key accused in the sensational gold smuggling in diplomatic bags case, Swapna Suresh, on Wednesday claimed a co-accused in the case was allegedly forcibly taken away from her residence on Wednesday morning, after she claimed there was a threat to her life and that is why she gave a statement to a court about the alleged involvement of others, including the Kerala chief minister.
The gold, weighing over 30 kg, was seized from the "diplomatic baggage" that had landed by air cargo at the Thiruvananthapuram international airport recently from the Gulf.
Kerala IT Secretary M Sivasankar was removed as Secretary to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Tuesday, in the backdrop of the gold smuggling controversy, where the role of a former woman employee of the IT department is being probed.
For Pinarayi, a victory in Thrikkakara would have come as public endorsement of his development initiatives, including controversial K-Rail project, which has witnessed widespread protest
A day after Suresh, a prime accused who was recently released on bail gave a series of interviews to television channels, Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly V D Satheesan accused Chief Minister Pinarayi's office of intervening to get the illegal baggage released and helping the accused to leave the state.
Minutes after she concluded her press conference, she told a TV channel that her colleague Sarith PS, who also worked with her at HRDS India, had been kidnapped in broad daylight from her home by 3 or 4 unknown people.
The ED case has been booked under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and the agency will record the statement of the accused. The central agency will investigate if proceeds of crime were generated by the accused by laundering of funds that were earned through the alleged gold smuggling racket.
UDF convener Benni Behanan said the Front has also decided to move a resolution against Speaker P Sreeramakrishnan and seek his resignation.
After a marathon discussion lasting nine hours, the motion was defeated with 87 members opposing it and 40 supporting in the 140-member house with two vacancies.
The LDF was also leading in 10 out of the 14 district panchayats and 108 block panchayats of the total of 152, according to the State Election Commission figures.
The government has set up a control room to coordinate the cleaning process across the state and the civic bodies have been entrusted with the task of managing the work, official sources said on Thursday.
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