Thiruvananthapuram: A senior bureaucrat who was reportedly much trusted by Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan was ousted after it came to light that the former has close links with the main suspect in a gold-smuggling case.
The CM had so far stood by senior IAS official M Sivasankar even when several allegations were raised against him, but finally decided to evict him from the key posts of Secretary to Chief Minister and Principal Secretary, IT, on Tuesday.
Sivasankar was considered to be one of the most capable officers in the service. But the senior official was dogged by controversies, including the recent Sprinklr row, and even ministers had complained against him. However, Sivasankar remained a close confidant of the CM. But that came to an end after his name was dragged into the smuggling case.
Swapna Suresh, a former employee of the UAE Consulate, is the main accused in the case. It is alleged Sivasankar is shielding Swapna. He was reportedly behind her appointment as Operations Manager at the Space Park which is under the Kerala State IT Infrastructure Ltd (KSITI), an undertaking of the IT Department of the state government.
"Allegations were raised against Sivasankar over his links to a controversial woman. It is not proper to keep such officials in my office and hence he was shown the door," Pinarayi said on Tuesday.
The CM also categorically stated that Swapna had no direct link to the CM's office or the IT Department.
On Monday the CM had made it clear that he was not aware of Swapna's appointment by the IT Department. He had also hinted that action would be taken against Sivasankar. Next day, Sivasankar was removed from both the posts.
After he stepped down, Sivasankar applied for long leave. “I have written to the chief secretary seeking a long leave. I am yet to get a reply,” Sivasankar told Onmanorama.
What forced govt's hand
The LDF government found itself cornered as the opposition turned the issue into a political weapon against the ruling front. The CM then sought an explanation from Sivasankar.
Sivasankar's removal from the Chief Minister's Office (CMO), according to sources, has been necessitated by the possibility that he could be questioned by the Customs over the smuggling of gold using diplomatic channels. A top officer in the CMO being questioned by the Customs would have been politically damaging for the Chief Minister.
Moreover, the senior IAS official was a frequent visitor to the Swapna's flat in Thiruvananthapuram as was claimed by the office-bearers of the residents' association.
Sivasankar, however, claimed that he did not try to help the culprits nor did he make any demands over the phone to release the seized baggage of gold. But he reportedly admitted that he was close to the woman and had often visited her home.
The Customs officials had recently seized around 30-kg of gold worth Rs 13.5 crore from an air cargo addressed to the UAE Consulate at the Thiruvananthapuram International Airport. The probe revealed the role of Swapna.
It was after the Customs identied Swapna's role as the likely lynchpin of the gold smuggling racket, the IT Department sacked her. Swapna is now absconding. The Customs officers raided her house in the capital for over two hours on Monday.
As reported earlier, opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala had earlier sought to implicate the CMO in the scandal. He had alleged that two high-ranking officials from the CMO had called up the Customs and intervened on behalf of Swapna. He identied one of them as Sivasankar but did not reveal the other name. BJP state president K Surendran had also alleged that the first call to the Customs was made from the CMO.
The CM had then trashed the charge calling it "nonsense". However, he seemed bothered by the appointment of Swapna under the IT Department.
Violation of norms?
The replacements of Sivasankar in the two posts he held were announced as soon as he was his ousted.
Former Kannur collector Mir Muhammad will replace Sivasankar in the CMO. K Mohammed Y Safirulla IAS is the new IT secretary.
However, their appointments have already come under the scanner over likely violation of norms. Both of them lack the seniority to be government secretaries.
