Shaj Kiran, a former journalist, found himself in the thick of things related to the diplomatic channel gold smuggling case after Swapna Suresh, an accused in the case, in an anticipatory bail plea filed before the High Court on Thursday accused him of threatening her to withdraw the allegations she levelled against the Chief Minister.
Shortly thereafter, Mr. Kiran met the media and dismissed the allegations and claimed that he had only warned her about the consequences of her actions as a friend. He claimed that he didn’t know the Chief Minister or CPI(M) State Secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan and that he had never met former Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister M. Sivasankar.
He said that he had been with Swapna at her office in Palakkad on Wednesday after receiving a call from her claiming that her friend Sarith had been ‘kidnapped.’ He said he had met Swapna in connection with a land deal through a friend and had known her for about 60 days. They used to speak on phone frequently though mostly about personal matters, he said. He felt that the mention of his name in Swapna’s plea was an attempt by someone to disrupt their friendship.
Mr. Kiran said that he didn’t know whether there was any conspiracy behind her statements before the magistrate. Both Swapna and Sarith had told him that they made their statements on their own.
He said that he had contacted political leaders while working as a journalist with various television channels before quitting in 2016. He said that he had not contacted Mr. Sivasankar or any CPI(M) leaders over phone in the past two years.
He also said that he had no connection with evangelist K.P. Yohannan except for the fact that his wife had worked for Mr. Yohannan’s firm. He claimed to have gone to Dubai only once and that too before he met Swapna, and expressed his willingness to submit his passport for verification. Mr. Kiran said that he was also willing to surrender his phones and cooperate with any investigation.
