By Diksha-
The Kerala High Court today rejected Senior IAS Officer M. Sivasankar’s plea for anticipatory bail in the Gold Smuggling case on the ground that there were indications that he was handling the finances of Swapna Suresh, a key accused in the matter.
After the rejection by HC, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) took Sivasankar into their custody.
Sivasankar was the principal secretary to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan but he had been removed from his post following allegations in the gold smuggling controversy for having alleged links with gang that had smuggled the gold.
Rs 64 Lakhs and 982.5 gm of gold from one locker and Rs 36,50,000 from another locker were seized by the investigating agency and the ED had unearthed that these lockers had been arranged for Swapna by Sivasankar in collusion with P. Venugopal.
All the proceeds seized have been found to be from smuggling gold via the diplomatic cargo route to the UAE Consulate. A total of 166 kg have been smuggled in the last one year alone.
“Even though applicant dissociated from activities of deposit in the locker, there is some indication in the communication between petitioner Sivasankar and Venugopal that he was overseeing the management of finances of Swapna”, the Court observed.
Although the ED has not yet framed charges against Sivasankar as accused in the matter, but there are strong indications that he might have been involved in the money laundering activities with Swapna Suresh. And offences under the PMLA are considered of grave nature.
The Hon’ble Court declined relief to Sivasankar stating that, “Probably, there may not be sufficient evidence at present to implicate him as accused. And there also may not be sufficient evidence to suggest he is guilty. But ED has collected sufficient material to interrogate him for which he is bound to cooperate as a senior government officer.”
