The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has filed a plea at the Supreme Court to cancel the bail of M Sivasankar, former Principal Secretary of Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, in connection with the gold smuggling case. It has alleged in the plea that Sivasankar has been influencing others accused in the case to derail the probe with the state's help, reports Bar and Bench.
The ED had earlier filed a Special File Petition at the Supreme Court challenging the bail of Sivasankar at the Kerala High Court. The SC then issued notice but refused to stay the HC order.
The national agency has alleged in its new plea that Sivasankar has been "fabricating" evidence against the investigating official and the ED. Recently two women police officials in Kerala, who had accompanied key accused in the gold smuggling case Swapna Suresh during the ED investigations, stated that that an official had put pressure on the accused to name the Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in the case. Both statements were made in an inquiry by the Kerala Crime Branch into the leakage of an audio clip purported to be that of Swapna in this regard.
Soon after the statements came out, the Kerala Crime Branch filed a case against the ED for allegedly creating false evidence against the CM.
The ED addresses these allegations in its plea at the Supreme Court. "Suresh did not make any such allegation of pressuring her to name the Chief Minister of Kerala or any other person,” says the plea.
Days after the statements of the police women came out, another key accused in the case who had later turned approver Sandeep Nair, wrote a letter to the Ernakulam District Sessions judge in which he too alleged that the ED official had put pressure on him to name CM Pinarayi in the case. Sandeep also wrote that he was harassed by the official and was asked to name three other ministers of the state as well as the Speaker of the Kerala Assembly in the case.
The ED denied these allegations in its plea. "These are cooked up stories to tarnish the image of the Investigating Agency and to sabotage the ongoing investigation with the help of highly influential accused and other persons. The City Civil Police Officers are intimidating the IO by giving false statements and the State Government too is giving statements that it is going to register a case against the Directorate as well as IO leading to an unprecedented situation where implementation of a rule of law would be highly difficult," states the application.