THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: 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 the 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
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Earlier, an attempt by the Customs to arrest Sivasankar from his home in Thiruvananthapuram led to dramatic scenes, on October 16. He complained of chest pain and was shifted to a private hospital. Though he was later shifted to medical college he was discharged as a medical board which looked into his health did not find major complications. He, however, evaded arrest by securing anticipatory bail on October 19.