Secretariat CCTV visuals to be handed over to NIA

Thiruvananthapuram: The state government has begun compiling visuals from CCTV cameras installed in the Secretariat, so as to hand it over to the National Investigation Agency (NIA), as part of the investigation into the Thiruvananthapuram gold smuggling case.
The NIA, last Friday, asked the general administration department officials who are the custodians of the CCTV cameras and the control room, to hand over the visuals from July 1 to July 12 to the agency sleuths. The agency had also formally requested the chief secretary to provide the visuals. This was sought to check if anyone accused in the smuggling case had come to the Secretariat and met anyone, including chief minister’s former principal secretary M Sivasankar. If found so, the visuals can be a crucial evidence to the agency and also a major headache for the government, which is trying to dissociate itself from Sivasankar, who was all-powerful official in the government till recently.
The agency had also informed the government that it should preserve visuals from the last one year. Sources said that the government will hand over the CCTV control system, if required, to NIA for examination and retrieving if anything is found. tnn