Thiruvananthapuram: Putting the Pinarayi Vijjayan government in the dock, Leader of Opposition Ramesh Chennithala on Wednesday said he knows that there is one more minister in the Cabinet who has close links with the prime accused in the gold smuggling case, Swapna Suresh.
Chennithala’s statement has come hours after the state BJP leadership has gone on record to say that Vijayan’s daughter Veena and Swapna know one another quite well.
“I know that there is one more minister who has close links with Swapna. At the moment I will not reveal who he is, instead let the state government disclose,” said Chennithala.
At present State Higher Education Minister K.T. Jaleel’s links with her have come out and by now he has already been questioned by the Enforcement Directorate, and reports indicate that he will be called in by the NIA also, soon.
Among the others who already have been questioned by the ED includes Bineesh Kodiyeri, son of the CPI-M state Secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan and reports indicate that he will be summoned again.
Another person who is all set to be called in for questioning is the son of the second in command in the Vijayan government — State Industries Minister E.P. Jayarajan.
The name of the second minister is expected to come out soon, as the NIA is busy reviewing the maze of data, which they recovered from the mobiles and laptops of Swapna Suresh and her now arrested associates.
The Vijayan government has lost its peace of mind, when the Customs first arrested a former PRO — P.S. Sarith of the UAE Consulate on July 5, following the recovery of gold in the diplomatic baggage of the UAE Consulate here.
Soon the NIA came into the picture and arrested Swapna and her business partner Sandip Nair from Benguluru and since then the going for the Vijayan government has been tough.
