THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: M Sivasankar, IT secretary and secretary to chief minister, was removed from the post of secretary to CM. Instead, Mir Mohammed Ali was given the additional charge of the secretary to chief minister. The decision to replace Sivasankar was taken following his links with smuggling accused Swapna Suresh, although the state government has not issued any statement in this regard.
It was clear from Monday itself that the office of the chief minister was under pressure to act following the connection of Swapna with Sivasankar and her appointment under IT department, disregarding the criminal case being investigated by the crime branch against her. She was given the charge of operational manager even when the crime branch is set to submit a charge sheet against her in a fake sexual harassment compliant filed against an Air India staff.
As the Customs has plans to interrogate the people close to Swapna to get details of her smuggling syndicate, the state government wants to avoid a situation of the secretary of CM being quizzed by the Customs, a source said.