Ernakulam: Suspended IAS officer M Sivasankar, former Principal Secretary to Kerala Chief Minister Pinrayi Vijayan on Thursday was sent to a seven-day Enforcement Directorate (ED) custody by a court in Kochi, in connection with the gold smuggling case.
Sivasankar admitted that he had contacted the Customs officials on October 15 to recover diplomatic baggage, the ED stated in its arrest memo.
Sivasankar called a high-ranking official in the customs department and according to the ED, there is evidence against Sivasankar and that he misused his position.
ED further added that he was involved in the financial dealings of Swapna, accused in the gold smuggling case. He was arrested for not cooperating in the interrogation under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
Sivasankar was arrested by the central agency on Wednesday in the sensational gold smuggling case, hours after he lost a legal battle in the Kerala High Court for anticipatory bail.
The ED, probing the money trail in the case, arrested the former principal secretary to Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan after six hours of interrogation at its Kochi office, the latest in a series of grilling by central agencies, official sources said.
Also read: Gold smuggling case: ED arrests Kerala CM's close aide
Following the ED's action against his former secretary, the opposition Congress and BJP mounted pressure on Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, demanding his resignation. On the other hand, the ruling LDF said it wanted all culprits in the case to be punished.
Earlier in the day, the agency moved swiftly to take custody of Sivasankar from an Ayurveda hospital in Thiruvananthapuram, where he had been undergoing treatment, minutes after the high court dismissed his anticipatory bail plea, and took him to Kochi in a car for interrogation.
The high court dismissed two separate anticipatory bail pleas filed by Sivasankar apprehending arrest by Customs investigating the smuggling angle and the ED, observing there was a clear indication that the IAS officer was very close to prime accused in the smuggling case Swapna Suresh.
The National Investigation Agency, Customs and the ED are conducting separate probes into the seizure of gold worth nearly Rs 15 crore from a "diplomatic baggage" of UAE consulate at Thiruvananthapuram airport on July 5. Several people, including two former employees of the UAE consulate in Thiruvananthapuram, Suresh and Sarith PS, have been arrested by the central agencies so far.
The NIA and Customs have also earlier questioned Sivasankar, who was suspended in July after his alleged links with Suresh surfaced. Dismissing Sivasankar's anticipatory bail plea in the ED case, the high court observed that the agency was relying on the statements given by him as also prime accused Suresh and his chartered accountant Venugopal.
Sivasankar had discussed the deposit of amounts belonging to Suresh with his chartered accountant.
The officer had introduced (Swapna) to the chartered accountant and had asked him to sort out her financial problems, Justice Ashok Menon said in the order. The court further said the statements given by the accountant and Suresh strongly indicate "the involvement" of Sivasankar.
(With inputs from agencies.)
