Kerala IAS officer too facing probe in gold smuggling

IAS officer M Sivasankar, who was principal secretary to Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, is also facing probe in connection with the gold smuggling under diplomatic baggage.

Customs officials probing the case on Saturday collected visitors' register of his flat in Thiruvananthapuram. He is also likely to be quizzed in the wake of his alleged nexus with former employee of UAE consulate in Thiruvananthapuram Swapna Suresh, who is an accused in the smuggling of 30 kilogram gold.

Sivasankar, who was removed from the CM's principal secretary post and IT secretary post due to his alleged links with Swapna, may also face probe in connection with appointment of Swapna's appointment at an agency under the state IT department. Chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan already said that a probe would be initiated to find how Swapna who faced a criminal case and allegedly lacked sufficient education qualification, got job at Space Park under the IT department.

Swapna was an operations manager at Space Park. Pricewaterhouse Coopers Private Limited, which was the consultants of Space Park, appointed Swapna at Space Park and it maintained that Swapna's credentials were verified by a third party firm.

Meanwhile, the opposition parties staged demonstrations demanding the chief minister's resignation on Saturday also.

The NIA team was learnt to have quizzed the key accused in the gold smuggling case, Sarith P S, who was also another former employee of the UAE consulate.