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Gold smuggling case: Swapna Suresh releases audio of Pinarayi Vijayan aide threatening her

'Shaj Kiran asked me whether I knew who I was playing with'

Swapna Suresh

Swapna Suresh, the prime accused in the diplomatic gold smuggling case, addressed reporters on Friday during the release of an audio clip of her conversation with Shaj Kiran, who is purportedly an emissary of Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.

“Shaj Kiran asked me whether I knew who I was playing with? He (Vijayan) will never be able to bear it if you drag his daughter's name into this,” Swapna said while quoting Shaj Kiran during a press conference at HRDS office in Palakkad.

Swapna is an employee at HRDS.

The details of the one-and-half hour long audio clip released during the presser will be published soon.

Security outside Swapna's residence intensified

The Kerala Police, on Friday, intensified security around the residence of Swapna.

The police arranged guards outside Swapna's flat round-the-clock. She had complained that her life was under threat after the recent allegations levelled by her against the chief minister, his family and others. She had submitted a petition to this effect in court.

The police protection was increased following this.

The allegation

Swapna alleged that Kiran persuaded her to withdraw her secret statement from court. "Once you listen to the audio clip, you can decide for yourself," Swapna told reporters on Thursday.

Meanwhile, Kiran refuted all charges against him after Swapna's revelations on Thursday.

Swapna said it was true that Shaj "was and is a good friend of mine." She also admitted that it was she who called Shaj after Sarith went missing on June 8. "We had no personal differences till a day ago. And it was he who told us that Sarith would be picked up, and it happened. But he had been torturing me mentally since afternoon (of June 8), forcing me to withdraw the 164 statement," Swapna said.

She said Shaj referred to the chief minister as "the number one". She said while Shaj was with her, ADGP (Vigilance) M.R. Ajith Kumar and ADGP (Law and Order), Vijay Sakhare, kept calling him alternately on his WhatsApp. Together, they had called him 56 times, she said. 

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