Kochi (Kerala):The Kerala High Court on Thursday directed the Enforcement Directorate not to arrest M Sivasankar, former principal secretary to the Kerala Chief Minister's Office till October 23 in connection with the gold smuggling case.
A single-judge bench of Justice Ashok Menon issued the interim order on the anticipatory bail plea filed by Sivasankar seeking protection from arrest in the ED case.
The counsel appearing for Sivasankar submitted before the court that the applicant is willing to appear before the agency and cooperate with the investigation in the case registered under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in the alleged smuggling of gold through diplomatic channels.
"Sivasankar was questioned by the National Investigation Agency and the Customs department for about a total of 90 hours, and even after 100 days of investigation, the agencies have not found anything incriminatory against him. Sivasankar is a responsible officer, who was sacked from the post of Secretary to CMO due to "media pressure. He is not going to flee," the council said.
The counsel appearing for the ED submitted before the bench that the agency has not been made a party in the case and added that the case was a "serious one" involving top-level officers. "To date, we have not arrested him. The apprehension (of arrest) is ill-founded", the council said.