A special NIA court on Friday sent Sarith PS, a prime accused in the high-profile Kerala gold smuggling case, to judicial custody till August 21.
Sarith PS, who was in the custody of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) so far, was on Thursday taken to a flat near the Kerala Secretariat for evidence collection.
According to the NIA probe, the three prime accused in the matter had met and hatched the plan to commit the crime at the flat near the Secretariat.
The NIA had on July 18 taken the other two accused in the matter -- Swapna Suresh and Sandeep Nair -- to various locations in Thiruvananthapuram for evidence collection, including their residences and the flat near the Secretariat.
The investigation had found that the accused had managed to book the flat with the help of M Sivasankar, former Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister's Office.
Swapna Suresh, prime accused in the high-profile gold smuggling case, on Tuesday filed a bail plea in a special NIA court in Kerala's Ernakulam district claiming innocence.
Suresh, in her bail plea, submitted that she is innocent of the allegations levelled against her and claimed that the current case is the offshoot of the political rivalry between the state and the Central governments.
According to the plea, it is alleged that the petitioner contacted the Assistant Commissioner of Customs requesting the release of the baggage evidencing her involvement in the smuggling.
"The petitioner was the Secretary to his excellency, the Consul General, Consulate of UAE, Trivandrum. Though she was not in service, she was maintaining good relationship with the Consulate and they used to assign certain works concerning the diplomats and their families to her as work on a request basis," the bail plea said.
Meanwhile, the NIA has also requested Interpol to issue a blue corner notice against Faisal Fareed, another accused in the high-profile case. Earlier, a non-bailable warrant was issued against Fareed by a special NIA court in Kochi.
The NIA is probing the high profile case related to the smuggling of gold through diplomatic channels in the state.
The matter had come to light after 30 Kg of gold worth Rs 14.82 crore smuggled in a consignment camouflaged as diplomatic baggage was busted by customs in Thiruvananthapuram, is being probed by the NIA.
(With inputs from ANI and PTI)
