One after the other, shocking revelations are being made in the Life Mission bribery case in Kerala. In the latest development, intimate WhatsApp chats between Swapna Suresh and Kerala Chief Minister’s Additional Private Secretary CM Raveendran have been revealed. In the said WhatsApp chat with Swapna Suresh, Raveendran reportedly said that he ‘likes mother’s milk’.
The chat dates back to November 6 in 2018 with Raveendran initiating the conversation by asking Swapna Suresh ‘whether you drink’. To this, Swapna replied ‘yes’. The conversation, however, shifted from alcohol to lewd comments on the preference for milk. The timings of the chats show that they took place around midnight.
In one point in the chats, Swapna Suresh asks ‘U drink’. CM Raveendran replied ‘…yes’, but in a next message, he sent ‘Not’ and a bear emoji, indicating he does not drink alcoholic drinks. Swapna Suresh replied with ‘I drink everything hahaha bacardi’. Raveendran replied ‘Oh good’. But in the next message, he wrote, ‘I like mother’s milk’. He then sent another message, saying ‘good for happiness’.
However, he then proceeded to clarify that he was not talking about dairy milk. He wrote, ‘Not caw’. When Swapna Suresh asked if it is goat or camel, he said ‘Yuck I don’t like’, adding ‘No’. This made it clear what did he meant by ‘mother’s milk’. These chats show that C M Raveendran and Swapna Suresh had close ties.
Raveendran had claimed that he did not personally know Swapna Suresh when questioned by the ED in 2020. Following this, ED released him. However, Raveendran was issued a fresh summons on Thursday this week and is asked to appear on February 27, Monday.
This comes a week after the Enforcement Directorate took CM Pinarayi Vijayan’s former principal secretary M Sivasankar on a 5-day remand to interrogate him about the Life Mission Scam. A court in Kochi granted Sivasankar’s custody to ED on 15 February. Sivasankar is still in the custody of ED. Sivasankar allegedly instructed Swapna Suresh to contact Raveendran for more information about the project in one of the WhatsApp chats.
What is Life Mission Scam?
Life Mission was a government project to provide free housing for the homeless victims of the Kerala floods in 2018. Irregularities in the scheme came to light when the ED was probing the gold smuggling case. The ED had reportedly got Rs 2 crores in cash, and 2kgs of gold from Swapna Suresh’s bank locker in October 2020. Swapna Suresh, the prime accused in the gold smuggling case, had told the ED that the money came from the commissions Sivasankar got from clinching a deal with The Red Crescent, an international aid group, for providing housing for 2018 flood victims in Wadakkanchery of Thrissur district. Sivasankar had allegedly asked Swapna to keep the cash in her locker.
