Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has urged all to wait for the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to investigate the gold smuggling case and not to have any preconception about the case.
“Let NIA investigate the case, no one has to be prejudiced. Let all big sharks, who are behind the gold smuggling, come out,” he said. He has also extended the State government’s help to support the agency in its probe.
The CM had earlier ousted his Principal Secretary after his links with Swapna Suresh, one of the accused in gold smuggling case came out.
“In the initial investigation, NIA has said that the money from gold smuggling was used for terror funding, which is a serious issue. All those who were involved should be brought to book. If a probe comes to CMO let it come, let them investigate and find out the truth. I am not going to protect anyone,” Vijayan added.
BJP president JP Nadda has attacked the Pinarayi Vijayan-led government in Kerala questioning its involvement in a high-profile gold smuggling case. He also accused the Kerala government of messing up the coronavirus crisis in the state and combating the pandemic with a negative attitude.
While addressing party workers in Kerala via video conference, JP Nadda asked, “The colour of gold is yellow everywhere but in Kerala, it is red, red and red. What is the relationship between that IT officer and the personal secretary of the Chief Minister?”
“We can see the heat in CM’s office also. He wrote to Prime Minister saying no stone should remain unturned as far as the investigation is concerned. We have a saying ‘chor ki daadi mein tinka’, it means the office of CM is also involved somewhere,” he added.