Politics
Kerala Gold Smuggling Case Gets Murkier, Swapna Suresh Releases Audio Tape Alleging A Former Journalist Visited Her As CM's Emissary, Threatened Her
- Days after making startling revelation against Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and family on their involvement in the gold smuggling case, Swapna Suresh today (Jun 10) released an audio clip of her conversation with a former TV journalist Shaj Kiran.
- Shaj Kiran, who earlier worked as a journalist with Malayalam news channels till 2016 and now operates as a real estate agent, acknowledged that Swapna Suresh is his close friend and he indeed met her, but refuted allegations that he met her as a representative of the state CM. He also rubbished allegations of threatening her.
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and main accused Swapna Suresh.
Days after making startling revelation against Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and family on their involvement in the gold smuggling case, Swapna Suresh today (Jun 10) released an audio clip of her conversation with a former TV journalist Shaj Kiran.
Earlier on Thursday, Swapna Suresh had alleged that Shaj Kiran met her as an emissary of the CM and asked her to withdraw her court statement. She also said that Shaj Kiran informed her that CM will never forgive his daughter being named in the gold smuggling case.
Releasing the audio tape, Swapna Suresh said that Shaj Kiran shared with her that Believer's Church acted as conduit for foreign investments of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and CPM state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan. She added that Shaj Kiran hinted that it was the reason why the government took action against them under Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA). Incidentally Shaj Kiran's wife worked with a firm owned by K.P Yohanan, the founder of Believer's Church.
Shaj Kiran, who earlier worked as a journalist with Malayalam news channels till 2016 and now operates as a real estate agent, acknowledged that Swapna Suresh is his close friend and he indeed met her, but refuted allegations that he met her as a representative of the state CM. He also rubbished allegations of threatening her.
“I speak to Swapna on phone daily. We became friends after I was assigned to sell a plot belonging to Swapna in Thiruvananthapuram. After the vigilance team took Sarith into custody on Wednesday, she contacted me and sought help. As requested by her, I went to Palakkad to meet her. I was at Swapna’s office from 1pm to 6pm,” he said.
Shaj admitted that he warned Swapna about the consequences of her giving the statement.
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