THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Hardly a day after the Kerala High Court directed the Enforcement Directorate(ED) not to arrest M Sivasankar, till October 23 in a money laundering case registered by the ED in connection with the diplomatic channel gold smuggling case, the former Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister was admitted to a private hospital in Thiruvananthapuram on Friday.
The Customs had summoned Sivasankar in connection with another case. He was shifted to the hospitals by the Customs officials themselves and admitted to the cardiology ICU of the hospital where his wife works as a nephrologist.
Earlier in the day, Customs officials had issued notice asking him to appear before the officials in connection with the smuggling case. He then reportedly told them about the inconvenience to appear before them due to ill health. Later the customs officials led by assistant commissioner reached his house at Poojapura in Thiruvananthapuram and he was taken to the office of the Customs.
As per the reports, Sivasankar who got into the car of the Customs officials reported uneasiness and the officials took him to the private hospital in Karamana by around 7 pm. Sources close to the hospital confirmed that his blood pressure level was beyond normal when he was admitted to the hospital.
He said ECG report showed slight variations but his health is intact, they said. The Customs officials refused to comment on the developments. However, it is assumed that Customs have received some vital links to connect the accused with him in the smuggling case. Soon after his hospitalization, NIA officials investigating the smuggling case also reached the hospital premises.