Gold smuggling case: Suspended IAS officer M Sivasankar taken into ED custody

Thiruvananthapuram: Suspended IAS officer M Sivasankar, facing probe in the Kerala gold smuggling case, was taken into custody by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) from a city hospital on Wednesday, soon after a court rejected his anticipatory bail petition in the matter. A team of ED officials reached the Ayurveda hospital here, where the former Principal Secretary to the Kerala Chief Minister was undergoing treatment and detained him. Sivasankar was later taken to Ernakulam by car.

Earlier in the day, the Kerala High Court passed order on two separate anticipatory bail pleas filed by Sivasankar apprehending arrest by Customs investigating the smuggling angle and ED probing the money trail in the case, dismissing them.

Central agencies---National Investigating Agency, Customs and the Enforcement Directorate, are conducting separate inquiries into the seizure of gold worth nearly Rs 15 crore from a "diplomatic baggage" at Thiruvananthapuram International airport on July 5.

Several people, including two former employees of the UAE consulate in Thiruvananthapuram, Swapna Suresh and Sarith P S, have been arrested by the central agencies in connection with the case.