Customs Objects to Police Handing Over Gold Suspects to NIA

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) began the second round of questioning of M. Sivasankar, former Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, at its office here on Monday morning in connection with the probe into the smuggling of gold into the country via air cargo shipments addressed to the Consulate of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in Thiruvananthapuram.

On Thursday, 23 July, 2020, the agency questioned the bureaucrat for four hours at the police club in Thiruvananthapuram.

It is learnt that the NIA wanted further clarification from Mr. Sivasankar on whether he was aware of the role played by the key accused, including Swapna Suresh, P.S. Sarith and Sandeep Nair, in the smuggling of gold. He came under the radar of the agency and Customs following his alleged association with Ms. Suresh, a former employee of the UAE Consulate in Thiruvananthapuram.

Reports emerged that he helped her to rent an apartment near the Secretariat in which the gold smuggling operations were allegedly planned by the accused.

Speculations were rife about Mr. Sivasankar’s possible arrest by the NIA on the alleged charge of abetment of smuggling even though investigators were tight-lipped on any such development. He had told both the NIA and Customs that that he knew Ms. Suresh at the familial level and had no knowledge of the crime or other aspects of her character.

He was suspended from service “in view of the wider ramifications of the case”. An inquiry by Chief Secretary Vishwas Mehta had found that Mr. Sivasankar had “made a reference to appoint a person (Ms. Suresh),” working at the time as secretary to the Consul General, UAE, as Operations Manager, Space Park. The committee had also pointed out that “such association and frequent contacts with a foreign consulate official” violated the All India Service Conduct Rules, 1968.

The NIA had termed the economic offence as a “crime of utmost gravity”. It had told its special court in Kochi that terrorist organisations could benefit from the proceeds of the felony. The agency had booked Ms. Suresh among others on the charge of violating the provisions of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA). It had arrested her from Bengaluru along with Mr. Nair on July 11.

The Opposition had demanded the resignation of Mr. Vijayan on moral grounds, alleging that his office had become a “den for corruption and nepotism”. It had alleged that the Departments of Home and Information Technology, both handled by the Chief Minister, had aided the interests of those facing charges of gold smuggling.