Kerala CM's principal secretary removed following alleged nexus with gold smuggling racket

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's principal secretary M Sivasankar has been removed from the post in the wake of his alleged nexus with former staff of UAE consulate in Thiruvananthapuram involved in smuggling of gold through diplomatic baggage.

The development came a day after the CM termed baseless the alleged nexus of his office with the smuggling racket. While the BJP accused the state government of direct links with the former consulate staff, the Congress demanded a CBI probe into the allegations. The state was also witnessed demonstrations against the government over the row.

A brief statement from the CMO on Tuesday morning said that Sivasankar was removed from the CM's secretary post and Mir Mohammed would take his place.

However, it was not clear whether Sivasankar would continue as Information Technology Department principal secretary.

Sivasankar, who was in the CMO, right from Vijayan's initial days after becoming Chief Minister, had recently faced allegations of bypassing official procedures for entering a deal for Covid data analytics with US firm Sprinklr.

The IAS officer was allegedly having close nexus with UAE consulate former staff Swapna Suresh and Sarith, who are facing Custom department's probe in connection with smuggling of 30 kilogram gold through diplomatic baggage. Swapna was also appointed as manager of operations at the Space Park under the IT department. Her service was terminated on Monday in view of the fresh allegations. The CM maintained that he was unaware of the posting.

Meanwhile, customs officials suspect that the racket had smuggled gold eight times since 2019 March. The involvement of any serving officials of the consulate was also under probe. While Sarith was arrested on Monday night after quizzing for nearly 24 hours, Swapna was still absconding. A raid was carried out at her luxury flat in Thiruvananthapuram on Monday.

Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala of the Congress alleged that the Chief Minister was responsible for unlawful activities of his staff. Sivasankar was being made a scapegoat, said Chennithala who wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking a CBI probe into CM's office nexus with smuggling racket.

Meanwhile BJP state president K Surendran alleged that Swapna was known to the Chief Minister since 2017 and she was actively involved in organising various events including the much hyped Loka Kerala Sabha global NRI meet of Kerala government and visit of Sharjah ruler to Kerala.