 "Kerala Oppn demands clarification from CM on Swapna Suresh's allegations")
Opposition Leader in the Kerala State Assembly and senior Congress leader VD Satheesan on Friday sought a reply from Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and CPI-M's state secretary MV Govindan on fresh allegations levelled by Swapna Suresh.
Opposition leader Satheesan said if the allegations against the duo are false they should take legal action against her.
"Government also sent a middleman to influence Swapna Suresh earlier. In the present case, there is no need to disbelieve Swapna primarily. The government is afraid that Swapna will reveal more. The Principal Secretary (M Sivasankar), who had excessive powers in the Chief Minister's office, is now in jail. The Additional Private Secretary to the Chief Minister (CM Raveendran) was summoned for continuous questioning. There is more evidence about this in the hands of Swapna," he said.
"Chief Minister and the party secretary should respond to this. Legal action should be taken against Swapna if she is wrong," Satheesan said.
"Earlier, when Swapna accused the Chief Minister, not even a defamation notice was sent. There was no legal action," he added.
Earlier on Thursday, Swapna Suresh CPM secretary Govindan Master offered her a hefty amount of Rs 30 crore to leave the country and settle anywhere else. She even accused him of threatening her with dire consequences if she did not stop speaking about Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.
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"I started revealing the truth after I came to know the true colour of M Shivshankar (former principal secretary to the Kerala CM). I got an anonymous phone call from a person called Vijay Pillai. He came for a settlement talk. He said to move out of Bangalore and leave the place. CPM party secretary Govindan Master had told him to threaten me and leave the place. They asked me to stop speaking about Pinarayi Vijayan, his daughter and businessman Yussaf Ali. They offered me Rs 30 crore," she alleged in a Facebook live post.
Swapna said that she has no "personal agenda" against the Kerala Chief Minister, however, Master threatened to "finish" her life and gave her 2 days to decide.
However, middleman Vijesh Pillai refuted all the allegations.
Talking to the media on Friday, Pillai said, "Swapna Suresh's allegations are false. I don't know CPI (M) state secretary MV Govindan directly and have only seen him in the media. There was no mention of the Chief Minister in our meeting. Swapna has to prove the allegation that I threatened her."
Earlier in October last year, Swapna Suresh alleged that Pinarayi Vijayan is taking up projects in the state for his daughter Veena Vijayan and for the future generations of his family in the guise of development.
"Chief Minister's projects making undue commissions and for building an empire for his daughter or for his family or for the future generations of his family in the disguise of development. It should not be Kerala's FON, it shouldn't be Kerala Fibre Optical Network, it should be Veena or Vijayan Fibre Optical Network," Swapna had told ANI.
Swapna Suresh, a former employee of UAE Consulate, is one of the prime accused in the gold smuggling case.
The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs had in July, 2020, seized 30 kilograms (66 lb) of 24 carat gold worth Rs 14.82 crores from a diplomatic bag at Thiruvananthapuram Airport. The bag was meant to be delivered to the UAE Consulate in Thiruvananthapuram.
Following the seizure, M Sivasankar, the principal secretary to Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan, was also suspended and removed from his post after preliminary inquiry confirmed that he had links with Swapna Suresh.