Thiruvananthapuram:Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate's (Economic Offences) Court on Monday granted bail to M Sivasankar, former Kerala principal secretary in money laundering case.
The bail was granted in a case registered by the Central Customs Department. The relief was granted after the customs department failed to file charge-sheet in the case.
On January 21, Sivasankar was arrested by the Customs in the dollar smuggling case that came to light during the probe into the recent gold smuggling case in Kerala. Sivasankar, former principal secretary to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, was suspended after his links to Suresh, also a former employee of the consulate, was established by the investigators.
Meanwhile, Sivasankar will remain in the prison as cases registered against him by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) are under trial.
The Kerala gold smuggling case pertains to the smuggling of gold into the state through diplomatic channels in Thiruvananthapuram airport. It had come to light after 30 kg gold worth Rs 14.82 crore, camouflaged as diplomatic baggage, was seized by the Customs in the state capital on July 5, 2019.
READ: Customs gets permission to arrest M Sivasankar
Central agencies - Enforcement Directorate (ED), National Investigative Agency (NIA) and Customs department - are investigating the cases against the accused individuals in the case.
The prime accused in the gold smuggling case, Swapna Suresh and Sarith PS, are also allegedly involved in the dollar case, according to the investigation agencies.
With agency inputs
