PALAKKAD: The vigilance released P S Sarith, the first accused in the gold smuggling case, after grilling him for three hours. The Palakkad vigilance unit took him into custody from Swapna Suresh’s flat. The vigilance informed that he is taken into custody to record his statement in the life mission case.

Meantime, Sarith rejected vigilance’ claim that he was taken after issuing a notice. They did not ask anything about life mission case. They wanted to know who was behind the allegations levelled by Swapna and who forced her for that. They took me forcibly. As soon as the door was opened, they dragged me away. A notice was issued today to appear at the vigilance office in Thiruvananthapuram on June 16. They seized my phone, Sarith said. He was taken from the flat around 10.30 am.

Swapna had revealed that some people abducted Sarith from her flat. She said they came posing as police but none of them were in uniform nor had an identity card. She also said that they came soon after she met the media. A police team led by Palakkad DySP had examined the CCTV visuals shortly after she levelled the allegation.