KOCHI: After spending 98 days in jail and the custody of various investigation agencies, former Principal Secretary M Sivasankar was released on bail by the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate (Economic Offences) court on Wednesday. Sivasankar was released from Kakkanad District Jail after being granted bail in the dollar smuggling case probed by the Customs.
There are three cases against the suspended Kerala principal secretary. Sivasankar was first granted bail by the Kerala High Court in the case registered by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) related to money laundering behind the smuggling of 167 kg gold under the cover of diplomatic baggage addressed to the UAE Consulate in Thiruvananthapuram. He was later granted statutory bail by the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate (Economic Offences) court in the Thiruvananthapuram diplomatic gold smuggling case probed by the Customs.
On Wednesday, he was granted bail by the court in the case in which an employee of the UAE consulate smuggled 1.9 lakh US dollars while travelling from Thiruvananthapuram to the UAE via Muscat in August 2019.
The court maintained that investigations into his 'minimal' role in the case are complete and hence he can be released on bail. "Having regard to the minimal complicity of Sivasankar and stage of the investigation, the court is of the view that further detention in custody is no longer essential for successful future investigation of the case. The investigation officer has not sought the custody of Sivasankar in the case at hand, obviously for reason that detention in custody is not required. Presumably, a major part of the investigation on the petitioner's limited role is complete. As a result, the court is inclined to release the petitioner on bail," the court said.
The observation made by the Kerala High Court regarding his health condition when he was granted bail in the ED case was cited as another reason by the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate (Economic Offences) court for permitting him bail in the dollar case. "High Court has considered the health condition of Sivasankar being a cancer survivor who had undergone surgery and further he was advised to undertake regular follow-up visits. The High Court observed that Sivasankar is neither a flight risk nor has the propensity to tamper with evidence or influence witnesses in view of the fact that the statements of accused and crucial witnesses were already taken," the court observed.
The bail was allowed on the condition of executing a bond of Rs 1 lakh with two solvent sureties each for the sum. The sureties should produce the original title deed for verification. Sivasankar should be present before the investigation officer as and when required until the filing of the charge sheet. He shall not tamper with evidence or influence the witnesses. Sivasankar's passport has already been surrendered before the court as part of executing bail in the gold smuggling case.
Sivasankar's brother was present at the court when the court granted bail. Soon, two sureties were arranged and paper work at the court for executing the bail was completed. At around 1 pm, the court issued the release order and Sivasankar's lawyer and relatives left for the Ernakulam District Jail in Kakkanad. He was released from the jail by 3 pm and headed to his residence in Thiruvananthpuram after meeting his lawyers. He did not respond to the questions of reporters waiting outside the jail.
It was on October 28 that Sivasankar was arrested by ED in the money laundering case. After spending nearly two weeks in ED custody, he was remanded to the Ernakulam District Jail. Later, the Customs recorded his arrest and took him into custody for nearly 10 days in the gold smuggling case. Last month, his arrest was recorded in the dollar smuggling case.
The Customs and ED relied on the statement given by prime accused Swapna Suresh to arraign Sivasankar as accused in these cases. Sivasankar is also an accused in the case probed by the Kerala Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) in connection with corruption in the LIFE Mission project, the state government's housing project for the poor.