Thiruvananthapuram, Oct 16 (UNI) Former principal secretary to the Kerala Chief Minister M Sivasankar, who has been taken into custody by the Customs in connection with gold smuggling case, was admitted to a private hospital after he complained of uneasiness, here on Friday.

The IAS official collapsed when he was traveling with the customs officials probing the diplomatic baggage gold smuggling case. He was admitted in the ICU due to chest pain, sources said.

The customs officials, who arrived at his residence at 1700 hrs, served a notice informing him to appear before the customs office here at 1800 hrs.

However, Sivasankar allegedly informed this matter to his lawyer pointing out that the notice regarding foreign fund transfers, has no crime number suspecting that the customs was planning to file a new case against him for his interrogation.

Though he was taken into custody, he complained of uneasiness. There were reports that the customs was planning to take him to Kochi after recording his arrest this evening.

Top officials of the customs including Deputy Commissioner Ramamoorthy and others are also present at the hospital.

This is also to be noted that the IAS official was let off by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday after questioning for more than eight hours.

UNI DS JW2238