Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's additional private secretary C M Raveendran was quizzed by the Enforcement Directorate in Kochi on Thursday as part of probe against Kerala gold smuggling case accused.
Raveendran had skipped ED quizzing trice earlier citing Covid-19 and post-Covid ailments. He even approached the Kerala High Court against ED quizzing.
Raveendran was learnt to have come under the ED scanner based on statements given by chief minister's former principal secretary M Sivasankar and gold smuggling accused Swapna Suresh, especially about commissions involved in various government projects. The agency also collected details of investments and other assets of Swapna.
The quizzing of Raveendran assumed much significance as he has been a close confidant of Vijayan as well as many other top CPM leaders. The quizzing that began in the morning continued till late in the evening.