KOCHI: Even as the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and customs have gone ahead with arresting former principal secretary M Sivasankar, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) probing the terrorism angle in the gold smuggling case will take a decision on arresting him after the Kerala High Court disposes of a set of petitions, including bail applications challenging invocation of Section 15 of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA).
According to NIA sources, the investigation in the case is currently on hold as the High Court decision on UAPA Section 15 will be vital to proceed further. The NIA has arraigned 35 people as accused -- the most as compared to the customs which has arraigned 24 and the ED case which has five accused persons.
It was the NIA that nabbed Swapna Suresh and Sandeep Nair from Bengaluru hours after registering the FIR in the gold smuggling case. Similarly, the NIA team travelled to Dubai and managed to deport a key accused from the UAE. However, the agency is yet to arraign Sivasankar as an accused though the customs and ED claim that he is the main person behind the gold smuggling.
“Some of the accused persons seeking bail have challenged the invocation of Section 15 in the case. According to them, the section is about the smuggling of counterfeits, not gold. The entire case registered by NIA is on the basis of Section 15. Hence, the High Court verdict is crucial at this juncture of the case,” a source said.Meanwhile, the NIA Court on Friday considered the bail applications of six more accused persons in the case.