for eight accused in the diplomatic baggage gold smuggling case while rejecting the application of two others. Swapna Prabha Suresh, a former employee of UAE Consulate and one of the prime accused in the case, was a business development manager of a project undertaken by Space Park under Kerala State Information Technology Infrastructure Limited. She was appointed by PricewaterhouseCoopers as a temporary contractual employee. It is alleged that M Sivasankar recommended her for the post however no proof of the same has been found yet. It was also revealed during police investigation that she had faked her educational qualification because of which KSITIL decided to seek probe against PwC for appointing her. Swapna is also accused of aiding financial discrepancies in an apartment construction project in Vadakanchery. An internal vigilance investigation was ordered by the state government on these allegations. Immediately after this, a CBI probe was initiated at an unprecedented speed based on a complaint letter sent by Vadakanchery's Indian National Congress MLA stating that Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010 was violated. However High Court stayed this investigation by the CBI after it was revealed that the project in question does not come under FCRA. NIA identified K.T. Ramees, a businessman from Malappuram who was earlier arrested by the customs, as the kingpin of the operation. According to a report by India Today, Ramees is a relative of the former Education minister, Chakkeeri Ahammed Kutty, and Malappuram MP P.K. Kunhalikutty. According to customs, Ramees is also an accused in other unconnected cases involving poaching and smuggling. Fazil Fareed, the third accused in the case, and the person who allegedly sent the consignment to the UAE consulate was arrested and questioned by the Dubai police. It is alleged that Fazil Fareed also produced some south Indian films. Bureaucrats questioned M Sivashankar, an IAS officer was in the centre of the scandal due to his association with the accused Swapna Suresh. Sivashankar was removed from the posts of Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister and Information Technology (IT) secretary after reports of his association with Swapna Suresh, charged by the National Investigation Agency in the smuggling racket. The court hearing the case has however expressed displeasure over the lack of evidence justifying the arrest of the İAS officer despite months of investigation and multiple rounds of questioning. It was also recorded in court that ED had pressured the officer to name