India News | SC Adjourns Hearing on ED's Plea Seeking Transfer of Trial in Kerala Gold Smuggling Case

New Delhi, Nov 19 (PTI) The Supreme Court on Tuesday adjourned for six weeks the hearing on the plea filed by the Enforcement Directorate seeking transfer of the trial in the gold smuggling case from Kerala to Karnataka.

A bench of Justices Hrishikesh Roy and SVN Bhatti deferred the matter after a lawyer sought adjournment on behalf of the ED.

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The lawyer told the court that Additional Solicitor General S V Raju was not available.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the Kerala government, said repeated adjournments have been sought in the matter by ED.

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The top court orally remarked that it seems the agency is not interested in pursuing the matter.

"Once again, prayer for adjournment is made on behalf of the petitioner, citing the difficulty of the ASG. .. Be that as it may, granting the prayer made by the petitioner, the matter stands adjourned by six weeks," the bench said.

The top court had earlier sought to know from the Centre whether diplomatic baggage can be subjected to scanning in India or they enjoy immunity from search.

The top court was hearing a plea filed by the Enforcement Directorate which sought the transfer of the trial in the gold smuggling case from Kerala to Karnataka claiming that a "free and fair trial" of the case is not possible in the state.

The ED has alleged in its plea that there is a close nexus between the accused and top officials and functionaries of the Kerala government.

A key accused in the case, Swapna Suresh, a former employee of the UAE Consulate in Thiruvananthapuram, was taken into custody 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 conducted separate investigations into the racket that was busted 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 M Sivasankar, a former principal secretary to Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, and another ex-employee of the UAE Consulate Sarith P S were arrested in connection with the case.

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