NEW DELHI, 24 APRIL

The Supreme Court on Thursday issued notices to four accused on a plea of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) seeking transfer of the trial in a gold smuggling case from Kerala to Karnataka.

The bench sought responses of the accused within six weeks and listed the plea for hearing in July after the summer vacation.

The ED has made Sarith PS, Swapna Prabha Suresh, Sandeep Nair and Shri M Sivasankar as parties to its plea. The law officer said the central probe agency will have to make other remaining accused parties to the petition.

The Supreme Court is hearing the plea of the ED filed in 2022, which sought the transfer of the trial in the gold smuggling case from Kerala to Karnataka claiming that a "free and fair trial" of the case is not possible in the state.

The ED has alleged in its plea that there is a close nexus between the accused and top officials and functionaries of the Kerala government.