A 3-member staff staff of Customs officers on the residence of M Sivasankar at this time
Thiruvananthapuram:
A senior Kerala IAS officer deposed earlier than Customs officers Tuesday in reference to investigations into the smuggling of 30 kg of gold via diplomatic channels within the UAE consulate in Thiruvananthapuram.
It had been alleged by the opposition that the officer, M Sivasankar, has hyperlinks to the accused within the gold smuggling case.
Name data leaked to the media by unidentified sources present a number of calls made by Sarith, one of many key accused, to Mr Sivasankar.
Previous to this the IAS officer, who was eliminated as Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, had been linked to a different key accused, Swapna Suresh, by the opposition.
The 2 – Sarith and Swapna – had been earlier employed by the UAE consulate.
The Chief Minister, who has been focused by the opposition for alleged makes an attempt by his workplace to defend the accused, mentioned Mr Sivasankar’s name data can be additional probed by the Chief Secretary and the Extra Chief Secretary of the finance division.
The leaked data confirmed that Sarith, a key accused who has been arrested by the Customs (Preventive) Division, known as Mr Sivasankar at the very least 14 instances over the previous three months.
On Mr Sivasankar’s alleged function within the case, the Chief Minister mentioned there have been, for now, inadequate grounds to proceed towards him.
“Apart from the hyperlink with the lady, no different grounds are there to droop him now. A authorities can’t take motion based mostly on the figment of imaginations. Let the probe be accomplished, ” he mentioned, in response to opposition calls for that he be suspended.
The leaked name data additionally confirmed calls made to a Kerala minister, KT Jaleel, by accused Swapna Suresh.
The minister, nevertheless, has mentioned: “I spoke to Swapna after being requested to take action by the Consulate Common relating to distribution of meals assist”.
The minister mentioned he knew Swapna Suresh since she had organised occasions on the UAE consulate, together with one in the course of the Sharjah ruler’s go to.
The accused within the case are former consulate employees who had been allegedly retained on “request foundation”. Ms Suresh additionally secured a contract job via a agency linked to the state IT division, allegedly utilizing faux certificates.
The Chief Minister has mentioned the problem of pretend certificates can also be being probed.
Swapna Suresh and Sandeep Nair, the 2 key accused, have been remanded to NIA custody.
On Friday the NIA registered an FIR (first info report) underneath UAPA (Illegal Actions (Prevention) Act) and took over the case.
The central company mentioned preliminary inquiries had revealed that proceeds from the smuggled gold could have been used to finance terrorism in India.
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