Thiruvananthapuram: Former Principal Secretary M Shivashankar has appeared in Customs office for recording his statements. The Customs had earlier served notice on Shivashankar, asking him to be present at its office for recording his statement.
Customs DRI officers reached the house of Shivashankar on Tuesday afternoon at Poojappura in Thiruvananthapuram and handed over the notice to him.
When the Customs arrived, Shivashankar was at his home and they returned within ten minutes. However, the officers didn’t answer the questions of media persons who were waiting outside.
From the beginning itself, there were allegations linking Swapna Suresh to Shivashankar. It was based on this that Customs served the notice on him.
The Customs is trying to find out whether their relationship was just a friendship or whether it had any connection with the attempt to smuggle gold from UAE to Thiruvananthapuram.
He was reported to be very close to prime accused Swapna Suresh, who was put in a top post in the IT Department where Sivasankar was the Secretary before her arrest in the case.
Sivasankar was ousted as Secretary to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan after the case came to light early this month.
Vijayan has said he is not worried if the central agency reaches his office in connection with the probe.
Meanwhile, the Congress-led United Democratic Front is set to move a no-confidence motion against the Pinarayi government in the Kerala Assembly in the wake of what it calls numerous scams in the IT Department, which is headed by Vijayan.
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The Congress-led opposition is also likely to move a motion to remove Assembly Speaker P. Sreeramakrishnan since he had allegedly inaugurated a new business venture of Swapna in her presence.
The NIA had arrested Swapna and Sandeep Nair from Bengaluru on Saturday for their alleged involvement in the Kerala gold smuggling case.
On Sunday, the NIA brought them by road on a transit remand and presented them in an NIA court at Kochi, which remanded them in custody.
The NIA took over the case on Friday and filed an FIR against the accused under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
Swapna, a former employee of the UAE Consulate in the Kerala capital, is among the four accused the NIA had booked for allegedly facilitating the smuggling of 30 kg gold in the diplomatic baggage to Thiruvananthapuram from Dubai on July 5. Two other co-accused are PS Sarith and Fazil Fareed.
(IANS REPORT)
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