KOCHI: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) resumed the interrogation of former Kerala IT secretary M Sivashankar at its office in Kochi on Tuesday as part of the probe into the smuggling of gold using the diplomatic channel.
The second-day interrogation started at 10 am. The NIA had questioned the former top Kerala bureaucrat for nine hours on Monday. Sivashankar, who stayed at a hotel in Kochi overnight, reached the NIA office at 9:45 am.
When he reached, the NIA officers, who reached the place at 9 am, were ready to resume the questioning. After the marathon questioning on Monday, Sivasankar, who was also the Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, was given the notice to re-appear before the agency on Tuesday.
NIA will check whether Sivashankar had any role in the gold smuggling racket which brought gold illegally in the cover of diplomatic baggage from UAE. The NIA is likely to show all the digital evidence collected by the agency including the CCTV footage of Sivashankar's office at Secretariat in Thiruvananthapuram.
NIA will also receive the custody of KT Rameez who masterminded the gold smuggling. The NIA court has issued a production warrant before sending him to NIA custody. Meanwhile, Swapna Suresh and Sandeep Nair, the key accused in the case, were brought to the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate (Economic Offence) in Kochi after Customs sought their custody.
The outcome of today's proceedings will be crucial for the Left government in Kerala. If Sivashankar is arrested or arraigned as accused, it will put the Kerala government and Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on the backfoot.