Kerala gold smuggling case: Man held for issuing fake degree certificate to accused Swapna
Darpan News Desk IANS, 23 Aug, 2022 12:59 PM
Thiruvananthapuram, Aug 23 (IANS) The Kerala police on Tuesday arrested a Punjab resident for allegedly issuing a fake University degree certificate to Swapna Suresh, the prime accused in the gold smuggling case.
A team of police officials, attached to the Cantonment Station, arrested Sachin Das from Amritsar in Punjab. The police team, along with Das, is expected to arrive on Thursday.
Swapna was arrested for smuggling gold by a National Investigation Agency (NIA) team from Bengaluru in July 2020. Her arrest was followed by the arrest of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's principal secretary -- a top IAS official M. Sivasankar -- who is out on bail after spending several weeks in prison in connection with the case.
During investigation, it was found that Swapna is a school dropout but managed to get a degree certificate from Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Open University. Based on the fake certificate and influence of high ranking officials like Sivasankar, she secured a plush job in the IT department which was headed by Vijayan.
Though a case was registered against her, no action was taken but after her allegations this June that Vijayan, his wife and daughter were engaged in the gold and cash smuggling, the police got into action and after a thorough probe, took Das into custody from Punjab.
Earlier, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann asked Director General of the Border Security Force (BSF) Pankaj Kumar to enhance vigil at the borders of the state for checking smuggling of drugs and weapons from across the border. The Director General had called on the Chief Minister here on July 31.
Inspector General of Police (IGP) Sukhchain Singh Gill, while addressing his weekly press conference here, said they have recovered 11.73 kg heroin, 20 kg opium, 9 kg ganja, 5.76 quintals of poppy husk, and 28,000 tablets of Pharma opioids, besides recovering Rs 20 lakh drug money after carrying out cordon and search operations in drug-affected areas.
Addressing a gathering here while handing over appointment letters to the newly recruited 4,358 constables in Punjab Police, the Chief Minister said the state government has conducted the entire recruitment process in a transparent and fair manner.
Amid heightened security to enter Delhi, traffic snarls were reported at the Ghaziabad, Chilla, Singhu, Faridabad and Tikri borders. Delhi Police have put barricades at all these border points and every vehicle entering the national capital city are being checked.
The accident took place late on Sunday night when Adil, 25, his pregnant wife Asma, 24, Mashkoor, 26, his wife Rukhsar, 27, Rihanna, 38, and Sultana, 35, were returning home in Mirzapur village. The van was completely damaged in the collision.
On the morning of August 24, the Prime Minister will inaugurate Amrita Hospital in Faridabad, Haryana. Thereafter, the Prime Minister will travel to Mohali and dedicate 'Homi Bhabha Cancer Hospital and Research Centre' to the nation, in Mullanpur, Sahibzada Ajit Singh Nagar District (Mohali) at around 2:15 p.m.
