picture credits: times of india
The Enforcement Directorate sleuths today, took IAS officer M Sivasankar into custody, after the Kerala high court denied an anticipatory bail to the officer, in connection with the gold smuggling case probe. Dismissing the bail plea, the Kerala High Court said that there were indications that the bureaucrat “was overseeing the management of finances of Swapna Suresh,” a key accused in the smuggling case.
Mr. Sivasankar was detained from the Ayurveda hospital where he was admitted for treatment. When Sivasankar got hospitalised, the customs alleged that he was pretending illness to escape grilling by the agencies. He served as the principal secretary to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, but was removed from the post in July this year following the expose of his links to the gang that had smuggled in gold using diplomatic cargo to the UAE Consulate here. Once a very powerful bureaucrat, Sivasankar fell from grace after his name got linked to the gold smuggling case.