Raveendran, close aide of Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan told to appear before ED in gold smuggling case

As the fallout of the Kerala gold smuggling case continues, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s close aide CM Ravindran was rushed to the state-run Medical College Hospital on Wednesday (November 25) after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) directed him to appear in there Kochi office on Friday (November 27)  for questioning in the gold smuggling case.

Immediately after the ED asked Ravindran to appear in its office, he complained of uneasiness which is now seen as a medical pretext to avoid the travel to Kochi for Enforcement Directorate questioning.

Ravindran was posted as an Assistant Private Secretary to the Chief Minister and he was a CPI-M nominee and for the embattled CM it is proving very difficult to disassociate with Ravindran whom he has known for several years.

This is the second  notice served by ED to Ravindaran however, Ravindran could not appear because tested coronavirus positive.

The notice was served to Ravindaran after his connection with prime accused Swapna Suresh’s alleged links to the gold smuggling case surfaced.

This led to the arrest of CM Vijayan’s Principal Secretary and senior IAS official M Sivasankar by the ED and that Ravindran was next in line to questiond.