Kochi: NIA officials on Monday began questioning now-suspended senior IAS officer M. Sivasankar for the second time in four days at the agency office here regarding the gold smuggling case that has rocked Kerala since the beginning of July.
Sivasankar arrived in his own vehicle at the NIA office here around 9.20 am after nearly five-hour trip from the state capital.
Security at the NIA office was beefed up and no one except the media was allowed to stay put in front of the premises.
Police officials took the IAS officer inside the NIA office and after the mandatory Covid test, he was escorted to a special room for questioning. Sivasankar was also served breakfast before his questioning began.
A woman IPS officer from the NIA has arrived from Hyderabad to lead the agency officials in questioning Sivasankar, while other officials will be linked online from various offices during the process.
READ: Gold smuggling case: NIA seizes Rs 1 crore, 1 kg gold from Swapna Suresh's bank lockers
Sivasankar has maintained during his earlier questioning that his relations with Swapna were personal and not linked to their activities.
Sivasankar was Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Information Technology Secretary before he was removed from the posts after the racket came to light.
The NIA had questioned Sivasankar in state capital Thiruvananthapuram for five hours on Thursday and put him on notice to appear before the officials for further questioning on Monday at NIA Kochi office.
The case first surfaced when P.S. Sarith, a former employee of the UAE consulate here, was arrested by the Customs Department on July 5 when he was allegedly facilitating the smuggling of 30 kg gold in diplomatic baggage from Dubai to Thiruvananthapuram.
The case became murkier when the name of Swapna Suresh, a former employee of the UAE consulate and later employed with the IT Department, surfaced in the case. Her links with Sivasankar came up later during the investigation.
Another accused Sandip Nair of Kochi was arrested on charge of direct involvement in the smuggling.
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, when asked about his former principal secretary being questioned by NIA, said during a press meet: "I have told about this earlier. Some people are interested only in this matter. NIA is probing the case properly, as part of it they can reach anywhere. Let them travel in their path. I have reacted about all this earlier and there is no need to repeat it."
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) had on Friday submitted before a special NIA court that around Rs 1 crore cash and 982.5 grams gold ornaments were seized from two bank lockers of accused Swapna Suresh, a former consultant with the state's IT department.
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With agency inputs
