ED compelled to name Pinaryi Vijayan, reveals gold smuggling accused in letter from jail

News Network
March 12, 2021

Kochi, Mar 12: After two women police officials on guard duty at Enforcement Directorate (ED) office in Kochi revealed that the central agency compelled the gold smuggling case accused Swapna Suresh to name Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, now another accused Sandeep Nair has come out with a similar allegation against the investigators.

Sandeep is the fourth accused in the case registered by ED probing money laundering behind the Thiruvananthapuram gold smuggling case. Sandeep who currently lodged at Poojapura Central Jail facing COFEPOSA detention wrote a letter to Ernakulam Principal Sessions Court claiming that ED officials threatened him to name Pinarayi Vijayan, two ministers and the son of an influential person in the case.

"While in ED custody for 14 days, investigation officer Radhakrishnan told me that if I name Chief Minister, two ministers and son of an influential person, the agency will help in getting bail. During the ED custody, I was denied proper sleep, physically tortured and threatened. When I pleaded, Radhakrishnan threatened that there will be more consequences. The officer included several matters in the charge sheet that has no connection with the case like scripting a movie to showcase that ED could able unearth evidence that other investigation agencies failed to get," stated in the letter.

He alleged Radhakrishnan later came to jail for interrogation with names of some influential persons and companies. "At the jail, he told me names of some of the companies which I never heard of before. He threatened me to say that some influential persons have an investment in these companies. He told me that if I admit these names, the agency will not object when my lawyer files a bail petition at the court. If required the agency will appoint a good lawyer for me, " Sandeep stated in the letter.

According to Sandeep, he objected to saying the names and asked the ED officer why the agency is scripting false facts in the case. On which the ED officer said that he has a direction from his higher-ups. The ED officer threatened Sandeep that if he doesn't give a statement as script made by the agency, he will never come out of jail.

Sandeep also alleged that ED is only interested in the political aspect of the gold smuggling incident as persons who smuggled gold and those funded them are yet to be arraigned as accused even after seven months since the investigation started. He said when influential persons with money and political backup could able to get bail, people like him are still behind the bar even after having no connection with the money laundering aspect of the case.

He said that he has a bedridden mother, a mentally ill brother, a wife and a daughter at the house. He said his family members are also facing life threat after the case was registered.

However, ED officials said that Sandeep intends to get bail in the case. "He was examined by the court on numerous time and he never raised such a complaint then. From the letter, it is quite clear that he is desperate to get bail. So he has come out with a false allegation against our officer," an ED official said.

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News Network
November 21,2024

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Hamas says the Israeli regime’s sole objective lies in “erasing” the entirety of the Palestinian population from across the Palestinian territories.

Khalil al-Hayya, a ranking official with the Gaza Strip-based Palestinian resistance movement, made the remarks to the Palestinian al-Aqsa TV on Wednesday.

“The occupation targets everyone—it strikes hospitals, civil defense, women, children, and the elderly,” he said, adding that the regime sought to “empty Gaza of its residents, and displace the Palestinian people to fulfill its dreams of building a Zionist Jewish state across all of Palestine.”

The remarks came amid the regime’s October 2023-present war of genocide on the coastal sliver that has so far claimed the lives of nearly 44,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children.

“This unprecedented aggression in modern times evokes scenes from the dark ages of human history, having crossed all red lines and exceeded every expectation of brutality in the modern era,” the Palestinian official lamented.

He also regretted that the regime had added “systematic and dangerous starvation to its aggression, falsely claiming before the world that it allows 250 [aid] trucks into Gaza daily. In reality, the number of trucks is far fewer.”

Hayya, meanwhile, regretted that “scenes of children torn apart, women screaming over their children, and heart-wrenching destruction have failed to stir enough humanity to stop these crimes.”

He decried the United States for vetoing the United Nations Security Council’s resolutions that are aimed at bringing about a potential ceasefire in the war, saying this indicated Washington’s “partnership in the aggression” and a simultaneous siege that the Israeli regime has been enforcing on Gaza.

Addressing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the official asserted that, despite what the Israeli official is after, Hamas would not hand over the regime’s captives “without [the regime’s] stopping the war.”

He called Netanyahu “the main obstacle” in the way of cessation of the aggression, saying the Israeli premier “blocks any progress for political reasons,” and citing his preventing conclusion of a ceasefire agreement in July.

Hayya also warned that the regime sought to expand the war beyond Gaza, but asserted that its goals are “impossible and will never happen.”

“Today, the enemy exposes its true intentions of extermination and displacement, but it will fail,” he stressed.

“The Palestinian people are resilient and will not surrender, as they believe in their humanitarian and political cause. The enemy and its allies will not succeed in achieving their goals. This steadfast people will endure, and the occupation will not prevail against them.”

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News Network
November 15,2024

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Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) has killed or captured 69 terrorists linked to the Israeli spy agency Mossad during a major counterterrorism drill in the country's southeast, its spokesman says.  

General Ahmad Shafaei, the spokesman for the “Martyrs of Security” drill, said Friday that a total of 23 terrorists have been killed and another 46 arrested in various clean-up operations ever since the IRGC Ground Force launched it in the Sistan and Baluchestan province on November 1.

Seven terrorists have also turned themselves in during the period.

“The undeniable fact about terrorists is that they rely on arrogant powers, particularly the intelligence service of the wicked and vicious Zionist regime," Shafaei said.

“Unfortunately, weapons and munitions at terrorists’ disposal are among the most sophisticated ones in the world. This accounts for their heavy dependence.” 

The official stated that several members of the disbanded terror teams were non-Iranian nationals, who had been hired by foreign intelligence agencies to carry out acts of sabotage and terror inside Iran.

In a most recent operation, six terrorists were arrested and four others were eliminated, three of whom were non-Iranians, he added. 

On October 26, ten members of Iran's law enforcement forces were killed in a terrorist attack in the Gohar Kuh district of Taftan in the Sistan and Baluchestan province.

The so-called Jaish al-Adl terrorist group claimed responsibility for the assault, which was one of the deadliest in the province in recent months.

The group has carried out numerous terrorist attacks in Iran, primarily in Sistan and Baluchestan.

Its tactics include the abduction of border guards as well as targeting civilians and police stations within the province to incite chaos and disorder.

In January, Iran launched a military operation during which the headquarters of the Pakistan-based terrorist group was targeted in missile strikes, destroying its infrastructure.

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News Network
November 22,2024

Mangaluru: A man fell victim to an online scam, losing Rs 1.7 crore after fraudsters posed as officials from TRAI. According to a complaint filed at the CEN police station, the incident began on November 11, when the complainant received a call from an unknown number at 9:49 am.

The caller, claiming to represent TRAI, alleged that another mobile number registered under the complainant's name was involved in illegal activities in Andheri (East), Mumbai. The caller further stated that an FIR was lodged against the complainant for harassment under the guise of marketing. He was instructed to contact Andheri (East) police station immediately or risk his mobile service being deactivated within two hours.

The complainant was subsequently connected to an individual named Pradeep Sawant, who claimed the complainant was implicated in a money laundering scheme linked to the Naresh Goyal fraud case. Sawant alleged that a fraudulent bank account under the complainant's name was opened at Canara Bank, Andheri, and used to purchase a SIM card for illegal activities. He warned that the complainant could face arrest.

Later, the complainant was contacted via WhatsApp video call by individuals posing as Rahul Kumar (a police officer) and Akanksha (a CBI officer). They allegedly sent fabricated CBI documents to his WhatsApp number. The fraudsters demanded money to "resolve" the case. Fearing threats, the complainant allegedly transferred Rs 1.7 crore through RTGS in batches of Rs 53 lakh, Rs 74 lakh, and Rs 44 lakh between November 13 and 19. A case has been registered at the CEN police station and an investigation is ongoing.

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