The Enforcement Directorate (ED), probing the money laundering angle in the controversial Kerala gold smuggling case, has attached assets worth Rs 1.85 crore, including those of suspended IAS officer M Sivasankar, the agency said on Thursday. "Fixed deposits along with seized cash recovered from bank lockers totalling to Rs 1.85 crore have been attached. Among the attached assets, Rs 1 crore belongs to M Sivasankar, IAS, also the former Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister of Kerala," the agency said in a statement.
Meanwhile on Thursday, the ED filed a supplementary charge against Sivasankar in the court under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in Kochi, days before the 60-day deadline for filing the charge sheet was to end. In it, the ED alleged that Sivasankar "knowingly assisted" other key accused in the gold smuggling through diplomatic channel in Kerala. The agency said its investigation so far revealed that Sivasankar, the fifth accused in the case, indulged in criminal activities and committed scheduled offences.
In the absence of a chargesheet before 60 days from arrest, an accused is entitled for statutory bail. Sivasankar was arrested by the ED on October 28 and is under judicial custody. The agency had in October filed an interim charge-sheet against three key accused Sarith PS, Swapna Suresh and Sandeep Nair.
It also alleged that Sivasankar had accepted illegal gratification from Santhosh Eappen for facilitating the award of a contract of the LIFE Mission project at Wadakanchery, Thrissur to Unitac Builders and Developers Private Limited and Sane Ventures LLP. LIFE Mission is a state project envisaging housing for the homeless.
The ED claimed that Sivasankar parked the illegal money accepted from Eappen in the bank lockers held jointly by Swapna Suresh and P Venugopal, his chartered accountant, in a scheduled bank and a nationalised bank branch in Thiruvananthapuram.