Tovino Thomas leads voter turnout as Kerala polls heat up
Actor Tovino Thomas casts his vote in Thrissur as Kerala records impressive voter turnout. Key constituencies see fierce electoral battles in the second phase of Lok Sabha elections.
The Customs, probing the Kerala gold smuggling case, is set to question Kerala Assembly Speaker P Sreeramakrishnan in the dollar smuggling case. The Customs officials are learnt to have got legal opinion that house privilege won’t be applicable in such cases.
Assistant Solicitor General P Vijayakumar has reportedly given legal advice that the Speaker can be questioned as per Customs Act. The Speaker is likely to be questioned after the current Assembly session that began on Friday. Vijayakumar has advised the Customs to avoid questioning the Speaker during the Assembly session. The Customs are believed to have received permission in this regard from Delhi too.
The Customs had the other day questioned the Speaker’s assistant private secretary K Ayyappan in connection with the case. The interrogation, reportedly extended to the Speaker based on accused in gold smuggling case Swapna Suresh and P S Sarith’s statements.
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Swapn and Sarith had stated that Speaker Sreeramakrishnan had handed over a bag containing dollar to them to deliver to UAE Consulate. The two accused had levelled serious allegations against the Speaker in their statements to the magistrate.
Meanwhile, two Dubaibased Keralites,Lafir Mohammad and Kiran figured in the statements given by Swapna and Sarith would be quizzed by the Customs next week.
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