Kerala Secretariat fire: Opposition claims conspiracy to destroy gold smuggling case evidence

A fire broke out in the protocol department in the North block of the Kerala Secretariat on Tuesday (August 25). According to sources, the block houses important offices and the fire broke out at section II of the protocol section under the General Administration Department. It is learnt that some files, documents and computers were burnt in the fire.

The opposition BJP and Congress claimed that the fire at Kerala Secretariat was a conspiracy to destroy evidence in gold smuggling case. Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala demanded a comprehensive probe in the incident, while state BJP president K Surendran alleged that the blaze was an attempt to destroy evidence related to gold smuggling case.

BJP leader Kummanam Rajasekharan also echoed similar feelings and said that there are elements who want to sabotage inquiry of Kerala gold smuggling case. "There are very important files in Protocol Office. It doesn't have any security. Had there been security, it wouldn't have happened," he told ANI.

"We demand a thorough inquiry, culprit should be booked immediately. We suspect that there is a very well planned move for sabotaging files in the Protocol Office," he added.

Congress MLA VT Balram said that his party has demanded a high-level inquiry in this matter. He added that the Congress does not believe in the official level inquiry with some middle-level IAS officers because role of even the Chief Secretary is questionable. Balram noted that even Chief Secretary is a suspect in this case.

"It was under his order that the elected representatives, MLAs were detained & restricted from entering Secretariat premises. We demand that NIA, that is probing gold smuggling case, take note of this and inquire into this incident as well," added Balram.

The Kerala gold smuggling case grabbed headlines on July 5 when gold, weighing over 30 kg, was seized by the Customs Department from the "diplomatic baggage" that had landed by air cargo at the Thiruvananthapuram international airport from the Gulf. The seized gold was worth nearly Rs 15 crore.