Thiruvananthapuram, October 19: Kerala High Court, on Monday, ordered not to arrest M Sivasankar, former principal secretary of Kerala CMO, till October 23 in the gold smuggling case. Sivasankar, earlier on Monday,  filed a petition seeking anticipatory bail in the case registered by the Customs in relation to the gold smuggling case. In the bail plea, he said that the Customs is attempting to "sabotage" the interim protection against arrest granted by the High Court in the case registered  by the ED.

Sivasankar stated that both the NIA and Customs have subjected him to over 90 hours of interrogation and  could not trace out anything incriminatory against him. He added that he has been cooperating with both the agencies and appeared before them as an when he was summoned. MoS Muraleedharan Denies CPI-M's Allegation That Centre Was Pressurising Probe Agencies in Gold Smuggling Case.

He came under ED's radar because of his connections with Swapna Suresh and PR Sarith, both being the prime accused in the gold smuggling case.  Sivasankar has been suspended from his service because of alleged violation of conduct rules since last July. I Was Single Point of Contact Between UAE Consulate, Kerala Govt: Sivasankar to ED.

On July 5, the Kochi Commissionerate seized 30 kg of 24-carat-gold worth Rs ₹14.82 crore at Thiruvananthapuram airport smuggled in a diplomatic consignment to the UAE.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Oct 19, 2020 03:23 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).