Tension prevailed for some time in Kollam district following clashes between police and protesters.
Thiruvananthapuram:
Protest marches by workers of opposition parties and clashes with police continued for the third consecutive day in Kerala demanding resignation of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in the wake of fresh revelations against him and his family by gold smuggling case accused Swapna Suresh.
Congress and Youth Congress workers marched to the collectorates and district headquarters across the state, raising slogans against the Chief Minister and the LDF government.
Police lathi-charged the protesting activists and used water cannons to disperse them in various districts including Thiruvananthapuram, Kozhikode, Malappuram, Kannur.
Tension prevailed for some time in Kollam district following clashes between police and protesters.
Two police personnel were reportedly injured during the minor clash while several Congress workers were injured in the lathi charge. Protesters allegedly pelted stones at policemen in Kottayam.
KPCC chief K Sudhakaran inaugurated the state-level protest in front of the Administrative Center Secretariat here, while Leader of Opposition in the state assembly VD Satheesan led the protest in Ernakulam.
Various senior party leaders, MLAs and former ministers led the protests at various places.
Meanwhile, the notice served by the police to the KPCC chief has warned of strict legal action if any untoward incident occurs during the protest march in the politically volatile Kannur district.
Earlier this week, triggering a political storm in the state, Ms. Suresh. claimed that he disclosed before the court – in his statement under Section 164 of the Criminal Procedure Code – others allegedly involved in trafficking cases and their “degree of involvement”.
She said that she had made statements against the CM, his family, KT Jalil and some other top bureaucrats.
Following his disclosure to the media, after recording Section 164 statement, CM Vijayan issued a statement dismissing Suresh’s claims and allegations as “baseless”.
On Wednesday, based on Mr. Jalil’s complaint, the police had registered a case against Suresh under sections 153 (abetment with intent to cause riot) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code.
The High Court on Thursday dismissed an anticipatory bail plea jointly filed by Ms Suresh and gold smuggling scam co-accused Sarit PS, holding that the offenses (conspiracy, others) registered against them in the FIR were bailable. and later the accused was not even in the case.
Ms. Suresh, a former employee of the UAE Consulate here, was detained by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) along with another accused, Sandeep Nair, from Bengaluru on July 11, 2020.
The NIA, Enforcement Directorate (ED) and Customs separately investigated the racket with the seizure of gold worth Rs 15 crore from the diplomatic baggage of the UAE Consulate at Thiruvananthapuram airport on July 5, 2020.
Several people, including former Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister M Shivshankar and Sarit, another former employee of the UAE Consulate here, were arrested in the case.
(Except for the title, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)