Suspended senior IAS officer M Sivasankar was questioned by the Enforcement Directorate for five hours straight on Saturday in connection with its probe in the Kerala gold smuggling case, sources said. Sivasankar was summoned to the ED office in Kochi in the afternoon and his interrogation continued till late evening, they said.
Though at first, he had expressed his inability to appear before the ED officials on Saturday, later he came to the office. After questioning him alone, a joint questioning was done along with the three other people arrested in the gold smuggling case.
Sivasankar was the Principal Secretary to Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. He was summoned by the ED for questioning a day after it filed a written submission in a Special Court in Kochi, stating that Sivasankar was fully aware that Swapna Suresh, a key accused in the case, was involved in dubious activities. The ED had said that his further questioning was required in connection with the case.
The agency, which secured the custody of Swapna Suresh, had on Friday informed the special court that Swapna has claimed that she had "considerable influence" in the Chief Minister's Office. The ED had said when Swapna was questioned, she revealed her "closeness" with Sivasankar.
The agency had also informed the special court that it has also been revealed that when the state machinery was in UAE from October 17 to 21, 2018, seeking the assistance of the expatriates for the flood relief, Swapna had meetings with Sivasankar there.
According to official sources, Sivasankar was also earlier interrogated by the ED in connection with the case.
He has been also interrogated multiple times by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and the Customs (Preventive) Commissionerate, who are probing separate angles related to the case in which 30 kg gold was smuggled using diplomatic channels through Trivandrum International Airport. Sivasankar has not yet been named as an accused in any of these cases.
Multiple agencies including NIA, Customs and Enforcement Directorate are probing the case of smuggling of gold worth over Rs 100 crore through diplomatic baggage addressed to the UAE Consulate at Thiruvananthapuram since November last year.
(With inputs from IANS)
Watch smuggled gold being confiscated by Customs:
