THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Kerala police detained a resident of Punjab on Tuesday for allegedly providing Swapna Suresh, the main suspect in the gold smuggling case, with a fake university degree certificate.
Sachin Das was taken into custody by a group of police officers from the Cantonment Station in Amritsar, Punjab. The police team, along with Sachin, is expected to arrive on Thursday.
In July 2020, a National Investigation Agency (NIA) team from Bangalore detained Swapna for smuggling gold. M. Sivasankar, a senior IAS official who had been detained for several weeks in connection with the case and was out on bail at the time of her arrest, was then taken into custody.
Investigation revealed that Swapna dropped out of school but was still able to graduate from the Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Open University with a degree. She was able to land a luxurious position in the IT department, which was led by Vijayan, thanks to a phoney credential and the influence of high-ranking officials like Sivasankar.
Despite the fact that a complaint had been filed against her, nothing was done. However, after she claimed in June that Vijayan, his wife, and their daughter were involved in the smuggling of gold and cash, the police acted quickly and, following a thorough investigation, arrested Das in Punjab.
Based on the fake certificate and influence of high-ranking officials like Sivasankar, she secured a plush job in the IT department which was headed by Vijayan.
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