THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A turning point in the fake degree case against Swapna Suresh, accused in smuggling gold via diplomatic baggage. Second accused Sachin Das has turned approver. The Thiruvananthapuram First Class Judicial Magistrate Court made Sachin Das, accused of forging a fake degree for Swapna, approver. The court accepted Sachin's plea. The police informed the court that they have no objection in making Sachin approver. The court will record Sachin's statement on November 19.

A case was registered by the Cantonment Police on the allegation of providing fake graduation certificate for recruitment in Space Park. Swapna is the first accused in the case and Sachin of Punjab, is the second accused. The certificate was created in the name of Mumbai-based Baba Sahib Ambedkar University.

Swapna got the fake certificate in 2017. Price Waterhouse Cooper, a space park consultancy, decided to give Swapna a job based on this certificate. The certificate was found to be fake when Swapna turned accused in the gold smuggling case. The Cantonment Police then registered a case.

The court had earlier accepted the charge sheet filed by the police in the case. Swapna had revealed that the appointment was made with the approval of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's former principal secretary M Sivasankar. Kerala State Information Technology Infrastructure Limited (KSITIL) had written to recruitment agency PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) seeking refund of salary paid to Swapna, appointed as consultant at the space park, but the payment has not been received. PWC is of the stand that they cannot pay the amount.

Rs 19,06,730 was sanctioned by the IT department to PwC as Swapna's salary. When Swapna was arraigned and dismissed from her job, the financial audit department had given a report that the MD of KSITIL should take immediate action to recover the amount of Rs 16,15,873 excluding GST from PwC.