Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala state government has removed M Sivasankar from the post of principal secretary to chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan, a day after the opposition parties came down hard on the Chief Minister over the alleged role played by the officer in the 30 kg gold smuggling case.
According to reports, IAS officer Mir Mohammed has been appointed in place of Sivasankar as the secretary to the Chief Minister's office. Sivasankar had applied for long leave soon after he was removed from secretary to the chief minister.
The action against Sivasankar comes after the Opposition attacked the government over his alleged connection with the gold smuggling case. Besides, Sivasankar has been removed from the post of IT Secretary also. Mohammed Y Safirulla will be the new IT Secretary.
The Air Customs attached to the Thiruvananthapuram airport had on June 5 made a seizure of 30 kg of gold that arrived on a cargo flight and was kept in a warehouse for release. The baggage had arrived from Dubai and is understood to have been marked to the UAE Consulate which has its office in the heart of the capital.
Read: Kerala CM feels opposition's heat in gold smuggling case
According to reports, the accused in the smuggling, Sarath, was a former staffer at the UAE consulate, and his operations were in association with another former consulate staff Swapna Suresh, who was a staff with the Kerala State Information Technology Infrastructure Ltd (KSITIL) till Monday. Her involvement in the case was revealed while questioning Sarath.
According to the Customs department, Swapna Suresh is absconding. The investigation team is on the lookout for her.
Subsequently, Sivasankar, who was also the IT secretary, released an order of expulsion of Suresh, due to her alleged involvement in the gold smuggling case.
