ED questions ex-it official in smuggling case again

KOCHI: Ater initial hesitation, former IT secretary M Sivasankar appeared before the Enforcement Directorate ( ED) here on Saturday for the second time for questioning in connection with the Trivandrum airport gold smuggling case.

He was questioned in the presence of the other accused in the case including Swapna Suresh, Sarith and Sandeep.

Earlier the former principal secretary to the chief minister was interrogated by National Investigation Agency (NIA) and Customs officials.

Both agencies believe that Swapna had sufficient clout in the corridors of power, which she might have used in her smuggling operations.

Sivasankar maintained that he had personal relationship with Swapna Suresh but was not aware of her activities including smuggling of gold.

ED had requested Ernakulam Principals Sessions court for permission to question Sivasankar again, while seeking extension of custody of the accused in the case.

Swapna had told investigators that she maintained close contact with Sivasankar and that he was aware of her negative intentions, according to reports.

Ater finding that Swapna, Sandeep and Sarith are associated with many influential people, the ED sought permission of the court to quiz them again.

In the court, the defense counsel had pointed out that the ED has not found anything more than what was found by NIA and Customs.

NIA and Customs had interrogated Sivasankar for 34 hours.

The Customs had stated in the High Court the other day that the gold smuggling accused are part of a huge smuggling mafia.

The NIA court also observed that the gold smuggling was an atempt to destroy the economic sustainability of the country.

The gold smuggling case was unearthed when PS Sarith was arrested by the Customs department on July 5 when he was facilitating smuggling of 30kg of gold in diplomatic baggage.

Soon the role of Swapna Suresh, a contract employee of a private firm working for the state IT Department, came to light.