Kerala's former IT Secretary M Sivasankar reached the National Investigation Agency (NIA) office in Kochi on Monday for questioning. The former IT and Principal Secretary to Kerala Chief Minister, Sivasankar has been quizzed in connection to his relationship with the key accused in the gold smuggling case.
On Thursday, Sivasankar was questioned for nearly five hours by NIA officials in Thiruvananthapuram. The interrogation was held at the Police Club in Peroorkada. According to reports, he was allowed to leave after promising to come to the NIA office in Kochi on Monday.
Documents leaked earlier showed that Sivasankar and accused PS Sarith had been in touch over phone calls. The documents showed that Sarith had made calls to Sivasankar multiple times between April and July. It was also reported that the apartment where the conspiracy had been hatched, was allegedly booked by a former employee of the IT Department upon the instructions of Sivasankar.
On July 14, hours after the call logs leaked, the Customs Department which is also investigating the case had called Sivasankar for questioning, which lasted for nearly seven hours. However, no arrest was recorded following interrogation by Customs officials.
With Monday's quizzing by the NIA, it remains to be seen if the agency will record any arrests. An arrest or arraignment of the suspended bureaucrat will come as an embarrassment for the ruling Left Democratic Front government.
Meanwhile, Sivasankar has maintained that he was not aware of the relationship that the accused Swapna, Sarith and Sandeep Nair had with the gold smuggling case.
Sivasankar had served as the IT and Principal Secretary to the Kerala CM earlier. Following public allegations of his links to the accused in the gold smuggling case, he was removed from both posts. Following this, he was also suspended based on the report of a two-member inquiry committee which found that the officer had violated the All India Service Rules.
In early July, the Customs Department in Thiruvananthapuram seized 30 kilograms of smuggled gold in a diplomatic bag. The bag was addressed to the wife of a consular official in the UAE Consulate in Thiruvananthapuram. Following the seizure, four accused in the case namely former employees of the consulate Swapna Suresh and PS Sarith and two others Sandeep Nair and Faisal Fareed were booked. The case was taken up by the National Investigation Agency over allegations that the smuggled gold was used to fund terrorist activities in the state. An FIR under various provisions of the UAPA have also been registered against the accused.