Kottayam: The Supreme Court has refused to cancel the bail of 12 accused facing charges of gold smuggling in Kerala.
The Apex Court also kept in abeyance dealing with the issue of imposing UAPA charges against the accused as Kerala High Court and Rajasthan High Court had given a different ruling in the matter.
The NIA had moved the Apex court challenging Kerala High Court ruling that the UAPA provisions cannot be slapped on the accused. Kerala High Court had upheld the ruling of the NIA court that there is no substantial evidence to prove the charge that the proceeds of the smuggling were used for terror activities, media reports said.
The 30 kg gold smuggling was unearthed last year July in Thiruvananthapuram airport. Kerala chief minister’s principal secretary M Sivasankaran and a government IT consultant Swapna Suresh are among those facing charges.
