Kochi/Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala High Court on Thursday directed the Enforcement Directorate not to arrest suspended IAS officer and former principal secretary to the Kerala Chief Minister, M Sivasankar, till October 23 and asked it to file its report on the anticipatory bail plea filed by him.
The court gave the direction to the ED, probing the money trail in the Kerala gold smuggling case, on Sivasankaran's plea seeking anticipatory bail.
Adjourning the matter to October 23, the court directed the central agency not to arrest him till then.
Apprehending arrest by the ED, Sivasankar, who is facing probe in connection with the case, had moved the court on Wednesday seeking anticipatory bail. When the matter was taken up for consideration on Thursday, the ED said it has not taken a decision to arrest Sivasankar. It also sought time for filing a detailed reply.
Sivasankar was grilled multiple times by the ED during the probe over the gold smuggling through diplomatic channels at the Trivandrum International Airport.
In the bail petition, Sivasankar conceded that he had interacted with Swapna, who was the secretary of the UAE Consul General, for official matters regarding the Consulate in Thiruvananthapuram. After their frequent official interactions, Sivasankar said that he became friends with Swapna and her family, comprising her husband and two children. Also, that they greeted one another on birthdays and exchanged gifts.
“Only after the diplomatic baggage was seized, did I come to know that Swapna and her accomplices were involved in gold smuggling and that they had misused the Consulate office for smuggling. After that I have not been in contact with Swapna,” Sivasankar said in his bail plea.
WhatsApp messages
Sivasankar said that the probe team's final report had several baseless allegations. “The smuggling activities began in November 2019, as per the prosecution case. But the WhatsApp messages with the chartered accountant prior to this have been needlessly included in the report.
“The WhatsApp messages included in the charge-sheet are not linked to the alleged crime. I have known the chartered accountant for more than 25 years. When an individual seeks professional help over some personal matters, there is nothing wrong in introducing a chartered accountant,” he added.
Sivasankar said that he only knew that Swapna had received a tip from the Sharjah ruler. “I introduced Swapna to the chartered accountant after she said that she wanted the money to be accounted for. It is true that the chartered accountant shared some messages about this to me. However, this was about eight to 12 months before the alleged crime happened,” he explained.
'Distorted media reports'
In the bail petition, Sivasankar also alleged that every time he was questioned, distorted reports were appearing in media, aiming to show him in a bad light in society. He also said he feared that the probe agency would be forced to arrest him to ward off the allegations.
Sivasankar seeks anticipatory bail
M Sivasankar filed for anticipatory bail plea in the High Court in the case registered by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with the gold smuggling. The HC will consider the plea on Thursday.
In his bail plea, Sivasankar said that even though he was not arraigned as an accused in the ED's final report, he feared that he could be arrested due to some vested interests.
The final report has several findings that pointed fingers at him. He further said in the bail plea that as a responsible government official, he had extended maximum cooperation to the probe.
