Thiruvananthapuram : Janam TV News Coordinator-cum-editor, Anil Nambiar, is suspected of using his clout across RSS to have arranged hideouts for Swapna and accomplices while on the run. Call Data Record(CDR) released show how Anil had contacted Swapna and Sandeep Nair, the two key suspects in the gold smuggling case, on 5 July - the day when Customs intercepted the gold baggage and more significantly, the day that the duo disappeared from Thiruvananthapuram. NIA also picked up data on Swapna’s return calls to Anil. Given that the journalist has close contacts with Union Minister V Muraleedharan, K Surendran and Karnataka political bigwigsm NIA is tracking the sequences in the buildup to the culprits’ hideouts and further.
After vanishing from their residences in Thiruvananthapuram, Swapna and Suresh were lodged at a resort owned by a Hindu Aikya Vedi(HAV) leader in Varkala, before heading for Bengaluru, where again, people from the higher echelons in BJP allegedly helped find them suitable hideouts.
Anil made his first call to Swapna came on 5th of July at 12.42 pm lasting 262 seconds. Exactly around that time, the Customs officials were examining the contents of the dubious diplomatic baggage at the cargo terminal. Records show how Anil and Sandeep held telephonic conversations on the day earlier too, indication that Anil Nambiar had prior knowledge on Swapna and Saneep’s involvement in the smuggling.
In his FB post on Wednesday, Anil Nambiar maintained that his call to Swapna came after the gold smugging news broke on media. He said the call was intended to gather further details on the episode for news purposes. The claim does not sit right given that, it is not the business of a news coordinator to collect information from sources outside. That is what reporters are meant for. Furthermore, if the news value was so compelling, how come Janam TV thereafter, did not feature the news at all ?
Too many questions remain unanswered surrounding a veteran journalist’s possible involvement in a case undermining the national security. And, the probe officials at Customs and NIA seek to find those answers by digging deeper into Anil Nambiar’s likely links to the racket,
