M Sivashankar, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s suspended IT Secretary, had told his chartered accountant P Venugopal to keep quiet and flee as the probe agencies were investigating the UAE-Kerala gold smuggling case. The WhatsApp chat seen by The Lede reveals that, on August 01, at 11:23 am Sivashankar told…

Kerala ministers’ closeness with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Consulate in Thiruvananthapuram is a violation of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) Protocols and can attract legal penalty if somebody approaches the court, experts said. “If we go by the statement given by those who are under police custody in…

Exactly two days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated Atal Tunnel, under the Rohtang Pass in the Himalayas, Kerala Chief Minister launched the Anakkampoyil-Meppadi Tunnel project, which will be built by cutting the sensitive forests and hills of the Western Ghats in northern Kerala. But green activists are already apprehensive…

While denying bail to an accused in the UAE-Kerala gold smuggling case, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has said in the court that the accused might have some connections with proscribed terrorist Dawood Ibrahim. The NIA deposition, seen by The Lede, reads that Sharafuddeen KT, accused No 13 in the…

On July 02 this year, at around 10 am, 29-year-old Adarsh Suresh of Kuttikatt House in Thannyam near Anthikad in Thrissur district of Kerala was having tea from a stall near his house when a car halted in front. They called him out and hacked him on the road. The…

Swapna Suresh, the key accused in the ‘diplomatic gold’ smuggling case in Kerala, had got commission for the renovation of 150 homes in Kerala during Kerala floods in 2018, a statement given by her to the Assistant Director of Enforcement in Cochin, reveals. In the statement which The Lede has…

The posters by the roadside, on the walls and those printed on flex; hung up by the roadside all call him a martyr – a political martyr who was murdered by the opposing political activists belonging to the RSS and Bajrang Dal. Thakkudu as Sanoop PU was known to all…

People avoiding hospital visits due to the COVID-19 scare, wearing masks, using sanitisers, and postponing unnecessary travel has resulted in drug sales dipping to the tune of Rs 16,000 crore in Kerala, say pharmaceutical firm officials. “On average, drugs worth Rs 36,000 crore are sold annually in Kerala. But this…

Remlath Beevi, a 48-year-old widow and cashew peeling worker in Kollam, has fixed her shovel’s broken handle to join the bandwagon of the national rural employment guarantee scheme. “In this time of crisis, going for a rural employment guarantee scheme will get me some Rs 304 per day. It is…

Even if 10,000 COVID-19 patients need oxygen support, we will be able to provide it, a senior official who is overseeing production and supply of medical oxygen in Kerala said. A major issue with patients suffering from COVID-19 is breathlessness. The symptoms start arising within 7-10 days of illness. Several…