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Kerala gold smuggling case: ED takes CM’s ex-secretary into custody minutes after his bail plea is rejected
Though Vijayan and the ruling CPI(M) distanced themselves from Sivasankar after the smuggling case came to light, the senior IAS officer ’s detention is a major embarrassment to the government
Minutes after the Kerala high court rejected his anticipatory bail petition on Wednesday, M Sivasankar, former secretary to chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan, was detained by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with the gold smuggling case.
Though Vijayan and the ruling CPI(M) distanced themselves from Sivasankar after the smuggling case came to light, the senior IAS officer ’s detention is a major embarrassment to the government. The Opposition Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) stepped up the pressure, seeking Vijayan’s resignation.
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Sivasankar’s is a major detention in the four-month-old case. Taken to Kochi, he will be produced in the economic offences court later, a senior officer part of the multi-agency probe said. Earlier in the day, both the ED and the Customs opposed Sivasankar’s anticipatory bail petition, saying that he knew about the smuggling and accrued financial benefits from some of the deals brokered by Swapna Suresh, the key accused in the case.
Opposing his bail plea, additional solicitor general of India S V Raju contended that investigation so far had given enough indications that he was aware of the activities of Swapna Suresh and custodial interrogation was necessary to unearth these aspects. Later, a single bench headed of justice Ashok Menon dismissed his plea, observing that he should have been more careful while dealing with such people and directed him to cooperate with the ongoing probe.
Earlier, the court had stayed his arrest till October 28.
The gold smuggling case came to light on July 5 after 30 kg of the yellow metal was seized by the Customs from a diplomatic consignment addressed to the UAE Consulate. Later P S Sarith Kumar, a former public relations officer of the consulate who came to receive the luggage, was arrested by the Customs. Two other suspects, Swapna Suresh and her accomplice Sandip Nair were arrested from their hideout in Bengaluru five days later. Sivasankar was suspended after his alleged links with Swapna Suresh surfaced.
A multi-agency team comprising NIA, ED, DRI, Customs and Income Tax is probing the case and 32 people have been arrested so far. There are reports that smuggling was going on for over a year through the UAE Consulate and they smuggled at least 400 kg gold in several consignments.
State high education minister K T Jaleel was also grilled in connection with one of the consignments that came in last March. But the minister said consignment carried only religious books. Grilled twice, probe agencies are yet to give him a clean chit.
Soon after Sivasankar’s arrest, the Opposition upped the ante seeking the CM’s resignation. “Pinarayi Vijayan knew about the smuggling. He can’t get away by sacrificing his secretary. We want him to resign,” said Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala.
But the ruling CPI(M) put up a brave face, saying the government had disowned Sivasankar him long back. “The Opposition is playing dirty politics. The government has nothing to do with his arrest. The CM had made it clear that if Sivasankar committed any wrong he will have to face repercussion also,” said party leader A N Shamseer.
