The Kerela airport gold smuggling case turned murkier on Friday when the UAE Consul General’ s gunman Jayaghosh, who had gone missing since Thursday, was found in a state of acute distress by the side of a road near his home, bleeding from what looked like a self-inflicted wound on his hand.

The police suspects that it is case of attempted suicide by cutting the vein, and Jayaghosh has been rushed to a hospital. Family members said he was showing signs of stress and was disturbed ever since the gold smuggling case broke and was constantly taunted by friends.

No involvement

Jayaghosh is reported to have confided in close members of the family that he was in no way involved in the case. Witnesses at the site where he was found said Jayaghosh gestured to them that he didn’t do anything wrong and apparently feared for his life.

This episode is the latest in a series of twists and turns in the high-profile airport smuggling case that saw Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan ordering the suspension of M Sivasankar, his ex-Principal Secretary, IT Secretary and close confidante on Thursday, pending a departmental inquiry.

Customs officials have already unearthed his alleged close alliance with Swapna Suresh, the second accused in the case, whom he had drafted into the IT Department under the watch of the Chief Minister as an official of a State government-owned IT infrastructure company.

Breach of service rules

An inquiry conducted by the Chief Secretary and the Additional Chief Secretary (Finance) had found a serious breach of the All India Service Rules in Sivasankar’s conduct, including his going out of his way to maintain liaison with Suresh and the other accused.

The case had taken an intriguing turn on Thursday itself when it came to be known the attaché of the UAE Consulate had left New Delhi for his country even as both the Customs and the National Investigation Agency (NIA) had been seeking permission to interrogate him for any likely involvement.

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