Kerala smuggling case: Police use water cannons to disperse Youth Congress workers protesting in Thiruvananthapuram

Protests in Kerala's Thiruvanathapuram are taking place ever since after gold smuggling case accused Swapna Suresh alleged that Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan and his family were also involved.

On Saturday, Youth Congress workers stages a massive protests outside Secretariat in the city. The visuals shared by the news agency, ANI show that the Kerala police used water cannons in order to disperse the protesters.

On Wednesday, BJP woman wing also held protest against Vijayan in Kochi. Heavy police forces were also deployed in the area.To disperse the protesters, the cops also used water cannons and tear gas. Protests are continued since last Friday in various parts of the state.

Last week, Swapna claimed that Vijayan, his wife and their daughter also had a role in gold and currency smuggling. Since then, the opposition parties- BJP and Congress have slammed the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI-M) leader and asked him to resign from the post.

Meanwhile, the Kerala Chief Minister dismissed the allegations as baseless.

"The revelation made by an accused which has re-surfaced again due to vested interests has already been dismissed by the people here, earlier. This fresh attempt is a concerted one to destabilise a firm government which is relentlessly working for the good of the people. We are certain that the people who know everything will dismiss this as it did in the past," said Vijayan.