THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: KPCC president Mullapally Ramachandran has demanded Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's resignation in the wake of the Enforcement Directorate officials taking CM's former Principal Secretary M Sivasankar into custody.
Talking to reporters in Malappuram on Wednesday, Mullapally said Pinarayi should step down if he has an iota of and respect remaining. Echoing the sentiments of Opposition Leader Ramesh Chennithala, KPCC president maintained that the ongoing probe and its latest findings in the gold smuggling case are just the tip of an iceberg.
The Enforcement Directorate officials took former Principal Secretary M Sivasankar into custody from a private Ayurvedic hospital in Thiruvananthapuram. The action came minutes after his anticipatory bail plea was rejected by the Kerala High Court.
He will be taken to the ED office in Kochi. His arrest would be registered by evening.
The ED opposed the bail plea saying that the former top bureaucrat had a role in the gold smuggling through diplomatic channel. The contradictions in statement of Sivasankar and his chartered accountant Venugopal were pointed out by the ED to prove his nexus with another accused Swapna Suresh in the
case.
M Sivasankar, former Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan is currently under suspension