Coming down heavily on the suspended senior IAS officer M Sivasankar, Kerala Minister G Sudhakaran called him a ‘traitor’ to have kept close connections with accused persons in the controversial gold smuggling case. "He is a traitor and should be punished as per the Constitution", PWD Minister G Sudhakaran told the media in Thiruvananthapuram.
After his close links with some key accused in the gold smuggling case surfaced, Sivasankar was removed from the posts of Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, as the IT secretary and was later suspended.
Action was taken against him after allegations surfaced that he had close links with Sarith PS and Swapna Suresh, who allegedly attempted to smuggle 30 kg gold in a camouflaged diplomatic baggage through the Trivandrum International Airport.
Sivasankar has been questioned multiple times by the National Investigation Agency, the Customs Department and the Enforcement Directorate in connection with the case and his association with the accused in the case was an "inexcusable crime", Sudhakaran said.
The former IT Secretary deserves no sympathy, Sudhakaran said, adding he was appointed to the Chief Minister's Office owing to the trust reposed in him. "What he did was an unpardonable crime,” said the Minister.
The allegations against Sivasankar had come as a major blow to the state government, and especially CM Pinarayi Vijayan who had appointed him as the Principal Secretary. Notably, though Sivasankar has been questioned multiple times by different investigation agencies probing the case, he has not been named as an accused yet.
Attacking the opposition Congress led UDF and the BJP, the Minister said they had been continuously targeting the Chief Minister during the holy Ramayana month. However, they were not able to raise even a single corruption charge against the CM, Sudhakaran pointed out.
LDF convener A Vijayaraghavan said the government has taken all action against Sivasankar for his lapses.
Meanwhile, the Enforcement Directorate told a court in Kochi that Sivasankar had travelled thrice to Gulf countries with Swapna Suresh, the key accused in the gold smuggling case, in 2017 and 2018.
"On further questioning of Sivasankar, the Secretary to the Chief Minister, it is revealed that during April 2017, A-2 (Swapna Suresh) had travelled to UAE with Sivasankar. Further, during April 2018 Swapna had travelled to Oman and met Sivasankar who was on trip to Oman in the same period and they returned together to India from Oman. It is further revealed that during October 2018 Swapna and Sivasankar travelled together to UAE and returned together and this particular trip was coupled with the visit of the Chief Minister of Kerala to UAE for seeking assistance of Indians there for flood relief in Kerala. Further, proceeds of Crime was kept by Swapna in the bank locker jointly opened with a third person as per the instruction of Sivasankar. An in-depth investigation in this regard is to be conducted," Enforcement Directorate submitted in the court.
Watch gold confiscated by the Customs: