Kerala Governor forwards Opposition leader's letter over Secretariat fire to Pinarayi Vijayan

Kerala Governor on Thursday forwarded to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan a letter by Ramesh Chennithala in which the opposition leader alleged that the recent fire in the Secretariat was a conspiracy.

The Governor forwarded Chennithala's letter to the Kerala CM stating, "forwarded for appropriate consideration".

Chennithala had written to Governor alleging the secretariat fire was a conspiracy and asking for CM's Chief Secretary to be summoned in connection with it.

The opposition leader Chennithala had claimed that the fire in the protocol section of the General Administration Department in the Secretariat on Tuesday, which led to the gutting of office files, was a "sabotage" to hide files pertaining to the gold smuggling case.

"This is sabotage. It is an act to hide files related to gold smuggling. This includes files related to Embassies, Consulates, Raj Bhavan, guest house booking, protocol. Those are all paper files. The Home Secretary, Revenue Secretary and GAD Secretary said there were no backup files available for these files. It was heard that a number of files were taken away. Some of them have also got stolen. The truth will not come out if the Chief Secretary or any IAS official inquires. The NIA should investigate this. The United Democratic Front (UDF) will demand this," he had said while speaking to .

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) had arrested four more accused on August 24 in connection with the Kerala gold smuggling case. The agency has so far arraigned 25 persons as accused in the case. Of this, 20 have been arrested.

The matter, which pertains to the smuggling of gold in the state through diplomatic channels, had come to light after 30 kg gold worth Rs 14.82 crores, smuggled in a consignment camouflaged as diplomatic baggage, was busted by Customs in Thiruvananthapuram on July 5.

( With inputs from ANI )