Kochi, Sep 15 (IANS): A city court on Tuesday handed over four accused in the custody of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) till September 18 after the central agency said it needed to question them on the basis of fresh evidence it had got in the gold smuggling case.

The agency told the NIA court that it has fresh data of 2 terabytes, regarding which the accused -- who were arrested earlier and put in judicial custody -- were to be quizzed.

In its affidavit, the NIA said the data was recovered from mobile phone and laptops of prime accused Swapna Suresh.

Swapna is admitted in Thrissur Medical College Hospital following complaints of chest pain. The NIA will approach the court for her custody as soon as she is discharged from hospital.

The NIA has been able to recover deleted chat messages and other information, besides pictures, from the electronic gadgets of the accused.

High-profile persons have been questioned by the NIA and other central agencies like the Customs and Enforcement Directorate in the case so far, including M Sivasankar, now-suspended IAS officer, CPI-M leader Kodiyeri Balakrishnan's son Bineesh Kodiyeri, and senior bureaucrat UV Jose.

Even as Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan continues to brush aside all allegations of the opposition in the case, both the Congress and the BJP continue to protest across the state to demand his resignation.