Kerala gold smuggling: ED seeks Sivasankar's bail cancellation; cites ploy to derail probe

In a key development, the ED moved an application in the Supreme Court seeking the cancellation of the bail granted to M Sivasankar- ex-Principal Secretary to Kerala CM in the gold smuggling case. While the ED had previously moved a Special Leave Petition in this regard before the apex court after which notice was issued, the agency claimed that Sivasankar was influencing the other accused to derail its probe. Most importantly, it accused him of using the state machinery to fabricate "false evidence" against the ED.

This was a reference to the FIR registered by the Kerala Police against ED officials for allegedly forcing gold smuggling scam accused Swapna Suresh to give statements against CM Pinarayi Vijayan. In an affidavit submitted before the Kerala High Court on March 5, Customs and Preventive Commissioner Sumit Kumar claimed that Suresh talked about the smuggling of foreign currency at the instance of Vijayan and the Assembly Speaker with the help of the UAE Consulate. In the alternative, the ED sought liberty to move the HC demanding the suspended bureaucrat's bail to be revoked. 

Sivasankar's legal woes

On July 5, 2020, Customs officials seized 30 kg of gold worth Rs.15 crore at the Thiruvananthapuram Airport from a diplomatic cargo addressed to a person in the UAE Consulate. Sarith PS, who worked at the UAE Consulate was arrested in this regard. On July 16, Vijayan announced the suspension of Sivasankar pending the departmental inquiry. It was reportedly found that he had violated the All-India Services Conduct rules due to his connections with the gold smuggling accused. 

After the Kerala HC rejected the suspended bureaucrat's anticipatory bail plea on October 28, he was arrested by the ED in connection with the gold smuggling case. While the agency got his remand on three occasions, Sivasankar was finally sent to judicial custody on November 12. Subsequently, the Customs department arrested him in connection with the gold smuggling case on November 24. While he was granted bail in the gold smuggling case registered by the ED as well as the Customs on January 25, he remained in custody owing to his arrest in the dollar smuggling case. He finally walked free on February 3 after being granted relief in this case.