Kerala CM's former secretary to be quizzed again in gold smuggling case

Kerala chief minister's former principal secretary M Sivasankar is likely to be quizzed by NIA again in connection with his nexus with gold smuggling case accused.

According to sources, NIA has summoned Sivasankar to Kochi next week for further quizzing. He was quizzed for nearly five hours in Thiruvananthapuram on Thursday. The customs had also questioned Sivasankar last week.

It is reliably learnt that though there was no evidence for Sivasankar involving in the gold smuggling activities, the investigation agencies were trying to get details about the connections of gold smuggling accused Swapna Suresh, who was a former employee of the UAE consulate in Thiruvananthapuram.

Sivasankar was found be having very close relationship with Swapna over the last couple of years. But he repeatedly told the investigation agencies that he was totally ignorant about her smuggling activities.

Customs sources said that so far there were no evidence to implicate Sivasankar in the smuggling case.

Meanwhile, the Enforcement Directorate also registered a case for money laundering charges and the properties of the smuggling cases accused would attached soon.