Gold smuggling case: Suspended IAS officer taken into ED custody

Kochi/Thiruvananthapuram: Suspended IAS officer M Sivasankar, facing probe in the Kerala gold smuggling case, was taken into custody by the ED from a hospital in Thiruvananthapuram on Wednesday, with the opposition mounting pressure on CM Pinarayi Vijayan demanding his resignation over the matter.

Minutes after the high court rejected his anticipatory bail pleas in the case, a team of ED officials reached the Ayurveda hospital, where the former Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan was undergoing treatment and detained him.

He was later brought in a car to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) office in Kochi for interrogation.

Sivasankar was taken into custody soon after the high court dismissed two separate anticipatory bail pleas filed by him apprehending arrest by Customs investigating the smuggling angle and ED probing the money trail in the case.

The Congress and BJP stepped up pressure on the Chief Minister to quit after Sivasankar was taken into ED custody.

Protests were held at various parts of the state, including infront of the secretariat in Thiruvananthapuram, by opposition parties and their youth wings demanding the resignation of the CM.

The protesters even burnt the effigy of Vijayan in some places.

Dismissing Sivasankar's plea seeking anticipatory bail in the ED case, the high court observed that the agency was relying on the statements given by him as also prime accused in case, Swapna Suresh and his chartered accountant Venugopal.

There is clear indication that the IAS officer was very close to Suresh.

Sivasankar had discussed the deposit of amounts belonging to Swapna Suresh with his chartered accountant.

He had introduced her to the chartered accountant and had asked him to sort out her financial problems, Justice Ashok Menon mentioned in the order.