Gold bars arranged in rows. (Wikimedia Commons)Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's former Secretary and IAS officer M Sivasankar was grilled for 9 hours by the Customs in the gold smuggling case.
Sivasankar had arrived for questioning at the Customs office on Tuesday evening and was let off only around 2.15 am on Wednesday. He is set to be called again by the Customs and also the National Investigation Agency (NIA) which is also probing the case.
A three-member team of Customs officials had gone to Sivasankar's house on Tuesday to serve a notice upon him. Sivasankar, present at the house, said he was ready to appear before the officials during the day itself for questioning and did so.
Swapna Suresh, a former employee of the UAE Consulate, here and employed with the IT Department, of which Sivasankar was incharge, and three others were booked by the NIA for allegedly facilitating smuggling of 30 kg gold in diplomatic baggage to Thiruvananthapuram from Dubai on July 5.
Sivasankar ran into trouble after his alleged links with Swapna surfaced. Sivasankar has reportedly admitted to the Customs that he and Swapna were friends.
The story has been published via a syndicated feed only the headline has been changed
An Appeal...
Dear Reader,
As you are no doubt aware, Swarajya is a media product that is directly dependent on support from its readers in the form of subscriptions. We do not have the muscle and backing of a large media conglomerate nor are we playing for the large advertisement sweep-stake.
Our business model is you and your subscription. And in challenging times like these, we need your support now more than ever.
We deliver over 10 - 15 high quality articles with expert insights and views. From 7AM in the morning to 10PM late night we operate to ensure you, the reader, get to see what is just right.
Becoming a Patron or a subscriber for as little as Rs 1200/year is the best way you can support our efforts.