CM’s former IT Fellow appears before customs office in gold smuggling case

Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s former IT fellow, Arun Balachandran, appeared before the customs on Friday afternoon in Kochi for questioning in the sensational gold smuggling case.
Reports were floating that he had played an important role in arranging for a flat right outside state secretariat for one of the main accused Swapna Suresh.
It is suspected that the location of the flat was aimed at facilitating smooth smuggling operations by creating a perception of proximity to power.
Balachandran, who is believed to be close to the former private secretary of the CM, told officials that he was asked to arrange a flat for Swapan Suresh by the former secretary, M Shivashankar, who is under the scanner in the case.
20 persons have been arrested so far and 5 are absconding or are to be extradited in the gold smuggling case, which is being probed by several agencies including the National Investigative Agency (NIA).