'Alliance of gold smugglers': Rajeev Chandrasekhar hits out at CPM, Congress

New Delhi: Delhi Customs on Wednesday detained two persons at the Delhi International Airport in a case of alleged gold smuggling.

According to sources in Customs, one of the detainees identified himself as Shiv Kumar Prasad and has claimed that he is the Personal Assistant to Congress MP Shashi Tharoor. Shiv Kumar Prasad had come to the Delhi Airport to receive a person who had arrived from Dubai. Both people were arrested when the passenger was trying to hand over around 500 Grams of gold to Prasad.

"Prasad has aerodrome entry permit card that allows him access to airport premises. He entered the airport premises and receiving a packet when he was held along with the passenger," said the sources.

The Customs authorities said that both Prasad and the passenger were detained and 500 gm of Gold recovered from their possession. The case is under investigation and their credentials have been verified, the sources added. Meanwhile, Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar, in a reference to the report on the detention of the alleged aide of Shashi Tharoor, criticized the Congress and the CPM dubbing them an "alliance of gold smugglers."

"First CM Secy involved in Gold smuggling, now Cong MP "aide"/PA detained for Gold smuggling. CPM and Cong - both INDI alliance partners - alliance of gold smugglers," Chandrasekhar said on X.

In 2020, Kerala was hit by a Gold Scam after the seizure of 30 Kilos of Gold by Customs at the Thiruvananthapuram Airport from a diplomatic bag. The investigation was taken over by the NIA and M Sivasankar, the principal secretary to Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan, was suspended and removed from the post after it was alleged that he had links with one of the accused.

BJP leader Chandrasekhar is the NDA candidate from the Thiruvananthapuram constituency and faces a stiff challenge from the former diplomat and senior Congress leader Tharoor, who is seeking a third term. The CPM-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) has fielded CPI leader Pannyan Raveendran from the constituency, who won the seat in 2005.

While the BJP has never won a Lok Sabha seat in Kerala, the party registered a victory in the Thiruvananthapuram district just once, with O Rajagopal winning the Nemom assembly seat in 2016. Voting was completed on April 26 in all 20 Lok Sabha constituencies in Kerala along with 88 constituencies across 13 states and union territories in the second phase of the Lok Sabha polls 2024. The Lok Sabha elections are being held in seven phases till June 1 and votes will be counted on June 4.

(ANI)