THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has said the State government has nothing to do with the gold smuggling case and the total responsibility lies on the Central government to probe the case.

At the end of Covid briefing on Tuesday, the chief minister was answering to media persons via video conferencing.

“The controversial woman has no connection with the chief minister’s office. The parcel was not addressed to any government agency. She only had the marketing responsibility in IT department’s projects. The appointment was made on contract basis. She was selected for job through a placement agency. The government had not done any prior appointments.

The gold smuggling has not brought any monetary loss to the government but currently, attempts are going on to paint a bad picture of the government in front of the public,” the chief minister explained.

The chief minister said the State had no connection with the gold smuggling and the government would extend all support to the investigation.

“The airport is managed by Airport Authority of India, under the Central government…When allegation was raised, IT secretary was removed from that post. This doesn’t mean that he was involved in some illegal activity. He was removed as his reputation got maligned in society after being linked to the controversial woman in the case,” the chief minister explained.