On Thursday, the Kerala High Court is slated to hear a case registered by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in connection with last year's sensational Kerala gold smuggling case.
The court will hear all the bail pleas of the accused, including Swapna Suresh who, along with others, is said to have smuggled 167kg of gold into India from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) between November 2019 to June 2020 allegedly through diplomatic channels.
The NIA, opposing any potential relief to Swapna Suresh in the matter, told the Kerala high court in the last hearing that she and the others committed a "terrorist act" by attempting to sneak gold into India through official channels, knowing full well that it would threaten the security and economic stability of the country.
An NIA court had earlier on March 22 denied bail to seven accused in the Kerala gold smuggling case, including Suresh, KT Ramees, Sandeep Nair and P S Sarith.
Swapna Suresh later approached the high court, challenging this order.
In her bail plea, Suresh questioned the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) charge against her and also said that the trial was being stretched endlessly for no particular reason. She also accused the authorities of falsely implicating her in the case and said that she has been granted bail in the customs and PMLA cases related to the very same alleged criminal activity of gold smuggling.
Opposing her plea, the NIA has filed its statement of objections regarding the same. The investigating agency informed the Kerala high court that Suresh and the others were aware that their actions would damage India's relations with the UAW. Thus, these acts qualify for offences under the UAPA for "terrorist activity, conspiracy and being part of a terror organisation."
"Investigation conducted by NIA has established that prime accused Sarith, co-accused Swapna Suresh and others, with the knowledge that their act of smuggling of gold into India in large quantity would threaten the security and economic security of the country, destabilise the Indian economy and damage the friendly relations with UAE, conjointly committed the terrorist act," the NIA said its application to the court, opposing Suresh's bail plea.
A bench of Justices K Vinod Chandran and Ziyad Rahman A A at the Kerala high court had earlier on July 16 adjourned the pleas of Suresh and some others to July 29 to await the decision of the Supreme Court in NIA's appeal against the bail granted earlier by the trial court and the high court to another batch of accused in the case.
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