KOCHI: Enforcement Directorate P Radhakrishnan on Tuesday informed the High Court that the Crime Branch registered a case against the ED when the names of high-ranking persons in the money laundering case related to gold smuggling came out.

Radhakrishnan filed his reply affidavit in a petition filed by the ED seeking to quash an FIR registered by the Crime Branch against some ED officials for allegedly forcing Swapna Suresh, prime accused in the diplomatic gold smuggling and the money laundering cases, to give false statements against Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. The Home Secretary had yesterday explained that Radhakrishnan's plea to quash the case against ED was malicious.

The affidavit stated that registering the case against ED would undermine the rule of law and obstruct the investigation. Radhakrishnan said that he did not file the petition as an individual but as an investigating officer. None of the accused, including Swapna, has complained to the court that they were threatened by ED officials. The statement given by the women police officers that the ED officers threatened Swapna on August 12,13, 2020 is false. The affidavit also said that it was no coincidence that the government had filed a case to sabotage the case after Shivshankar was released on bail.

The High Court on Tuesday adjourned the hearing of the petition seeking quashing of the case against ED to Wednesday. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who appeared for the ED when the petition was filed yesterday, had expressed his discomfort and asked for the petition to be postponed.