Court grants Customs 5 day custody of Sivasankar in gold smuggling case

Kochi: A local court on Wednesday granted Customs five days custody of suspended IAS officer M Sivasankar, arrested by it in connection with the gold smuggling

case.

The Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate (Economic Offences), Ernakulam, granted Customs (Preventive) Commissionerate five day custody, considering its argument on his alleged role in smuggling through diplomatic

channel.

In a related development, the court granted Customs five day custody of two key accused, Swapna Suresh and P S Sarith, arrested by it for allegedly assisting a former employee of the UAE consulate in Thiruvananthapuram for smuggling USD 1,90,000 to Muscat from the capital city.

In its order, the court observed that forensic evidence collected after retrieving data from Sivasankar's mobile phone led the Investigating Officer to conclude he was involved in the smuggling operation by way of abetting the mastermind.

It noted that after retrieving deleted Whatsapp chats and other history, his previous statements were cross-checked and the IO concluded that Swapna Suresh purposefully gave the statement to exonerate Sivasankar for reasons known to her.

"In this context,the Investigating Officer has justifiable reason to arraign Sivasankar as accused" the court said.

It observed that the alleged offence was serious in nature since the smuggling of huge quantities of gold through diplomatic channel was unprecedented.