A CPM leader has drawn up a point-by-point rebuttal of the allegations levelled against the Left-led Kerala government in the gold smuggling case, drawing attention to a perceived tendency among some media organisations and Opposition parties to shoot first and ask questions later.
M.B. Rajesh, a CPM state committee member and a former Lok Sabha member, noted how a section of the media had allegedly used false information to malign the Left Democratic Front government at a time it had won plaudits for its management of the Covid crisis.
The still-unfolding smuggling case revolves around a 30kg contraband found in a package meant for a UAE diplomat based in the Kerala capital. The diplomat has since then left India.
In the initial days, media and political attention had been focused on Swapna Suresh, the second accused who used to work in the UAE consulate and later in an IT space project run by the state government. Her proximity to the then secretary to the chief minister’s office and innuendos had hogged the headlines in the first week.
“They first claimed that Swapna Suresh and Sandeep Nair (the fourth accused) had escaped from Thiruvananthapuram when the triple lockdown was in place,” Rajesh told The Telegraph on Friday night.
“Then the media admitted that the accused had left on July 5 (before the triple lockdown started) and that they had passes to enter Tamil Nadu in which they had stated they were heading to Maharashtra,” Rajesh said. Passes during a lockdown are issued by the state where a person is entering.
The gold smuggling case became public on July 6. The triple lockdown in view of the pandemic began on July 7.
Rajesh pointed out that Swapna and Nair were eventually arrested from a BJP-ruled state (Karnataka).
It has also come to light that Swapna had made the last call before switching off her mobile phone to the head of a news channel linked to the BJP.
“Now my question is, what made them go to a BJP-ruled state? Why was her last call made to a known BJP man?” Rajesh asked.
He recalled how sections of the media had tried to label Nair as a CPM member. “Even his mother has confirmed that he is a BJP worker,” Rajesh said.
“Not a single accused is linked to the LDF (Left Democratic Front). One of the prime accused is a BJP man and two others — K.T. Rameez and Mohammed Shafi — are from the Indian Union Muslim League (a Congress ally),” he said.
Rakesh referred to the false claim that Swapna was an employee of the IT department of the Kerala government although she had been a contract worker selected by private agencies for the department’s Space Park in the state capital.
“Now the state police have filed a case against PricewaterhouseCoopers and a placement agency for hiring her,” Rajesh said.
Swapna had allegedly produced fake degree certificates to all her employers who appeared to have overlooked a criminal case against her for levelling false sexual harassment accusations against a superior when she worked for the airport ground-handling firm Air India Sats.
The Kerala State IT Infrastructure Limited recently sent a legal notice to PwC seeking damages for a breach of contract. It was Vision Technology and Staffing Solutions, sub-contractors of PwC, that had hired Swapna after getting a background check done through Knowy HR Solutions Pvt Ltd, Rajesh pointed out.
“All this makes it clear that she was not a government employee and these companies that hired her botched up badly,” the CPM leader said.
“A Youth Congress secretary and a Mahila Congress leader had circulated a morphed picture of the wedding of the chief minister’s daughter. The face of industries minister E.P. Jayarajan’s wife had been morphed with Swapna’s. Now a police complaint has been lodged against (the Congress duo),” Rajesh said.
He referred to another picture from an event hosted by the Space Park that had been used to suggest Swapna’s clout in the government.
“A leading newspaper printed a picture claiming Swapna had given a memento to space scientist M.C. Dattan at the event. But later Dattan himself told a channel that she had only helped him on stage while he presented the memento to another dignitary,” Rajesh recalled.
Rajesh referred to the Opposition’s allegation that a call had been made from the chief minister’s office to the customs when the cargo was detained at the airport. “Later it was found that a BJP sympathiser, (cargo handler) O.G. Hari Raj, was the one who had called. He was questioned later for several hours,” Rajesh said.