M Sivasankar, the former Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, and one of the primary accused in the diplomatic gold smuggling case was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday.
Earlier in the day, his anticipatory bail in connection with probes by ED and Customs against him was rejected by the Kerala High Court.
Sivasankar has been arrested by the ED for his involvement in the gold smuggling racket along with Swapna Suresh. He has been alleged to have helped Swapna by means of his chartered accountant.
Union Minister and BJP leader V Muraleedharan said that M Shivashankar’s arrest proves CM Pinarayi Vijayan’s involvement in the scam.
Today’s arrest proves the direct involvement of @vijayanpinarayi in #Goldscam. It’s just a tip of the iceberg & he will not be the last person.
The arrogant & shameless @vijayanpinarayi must seek an unconditional apology from the people of Kerala and resign immediately.
— V Muraleedharan (@VMBJP) October 28, 2020
Leader of Opposition in Kerala Assembly and Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala said that the Chief Minister’s Office is being ruled by mafias and that Sivasankaran is the first IAS officer in Kerala to be taken into custody by central agencies. “The Chief Minister who shames Kerala has no right to continue in that position.”, Mr. Chennithala said.
കേന്ദ്ര ഏജൻസികൾ കസ്റ്റഡിയിലെടുക്കുന്ന കേരളത്തിലെ ആദ്യത്തെ ഐ.എ.എസ് ഉദ്യോഗസ്ഥനാണ് ശിവശങ്കരൻ.
മുഖ്യമന്ത്രിയുടെ പ്രിൻസിപ്പൽ സെക്രട്ടറിയായിരുന്ന ഉദ്യോഗസ്ഥനെ കസ്റ്റഡിയിലെടുക്കുന്നതും ഇതാദ്യം.
കേരളത്തെ നാണംകെടുത്തുന്ന മുഖ്യമന്ത്രിക്ക് ആ സ്ഥാനത്ത് തുടരാൻ അവകാശമില്ല.
4/4
— Ramesh Chennithala (@chennithala) October 28, 2020
The gold smuggling scam came to light after the diplomatic cargo consignment containing 30kg of smuggled gold from UAE was seized by the Customs. While the accused Swapna Suresh, Sandip and Sarith Nair had been already arrested, there were ongoing investigations to nab the kingpins, one of them being M Sivasankar.
Sivasannkar has been arrested under Section 19 of Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).