THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The condition of M Sivasankar, suspended principal secretary to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, is reported to be normal except for a disc prolapse, said the medical bulletin issued by the private hospital where he was admitted on Friday evening.
The officer developed uneasiness while being taken to the Customs office for questioning in connection with the smuggling of 1.90 lakh dollars abroad by gold smuggling case accused and Sivasankar's friend Swapna Suresh.
Swapna is suspected to have received the money as commission from Unitac which was assigned with the work of a Life Mission apartment project at Wadakkanchery. She is the first accused in the dollar smuggling case.
According to the medical bulletin, the officer had complaints of uneasiness, giddiness and back pain at the time of admission. His BP was high on arrival and he was admitted to the Cardiac ICU. "In view of persistent chest discomfort a coronary angiogram was done which was normal. His BP is now controlled. CT Head and MRI Brain ruled out stroke but MRI Spine revealed multiple disc prolapse in lumbar and cervical region," it said.
The bulletin said a second opinion has been sought for the "back pain due to lumbar disc prolapse compressing the spinal roots".
Sivasankar's wife is heading the nephrology department of the same hospital. The Customs team had met the doctors attending on Sivasankar on Saturday morning. It is learnt that the officer will be taken to another hospital, most probably the Sree Chitra Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology, by evening.
Sivasankar is suspected to have helped Swapna coerce a private bank to convert the commission money received in rupees into US dollars. A bank officer is reported to have given a statement to the Customs about Sivasankar's pressure to help Swapna. Also, the Customs suspects that the money was transported during the foreign trips in which she accompanied Sivasankar. PS Sarith, co-accused in the gold smuggling case, has been arraigned as second accused in this case as well.
There are reports that the Customs had planned to record Sivasankar's arrest on Friday. In that case he would have been remanded to judicial custody until a bail petition is filed in the court on Monday. Sivasankar now has the opportunity to file an anticipatory bail petition in the High Court on Monday like he did in the gold smuggling case filed by the Enforcement Directorate.