Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's additional private secretary C M Raveendran, who was to be questioned by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday, has tested positive for coronavirus on Thursday.
The ED had served a notice to Raveendran directing him to appear at its Kochi office at 10am on Thursday. In the wake of the new circumstances he will not be appearing before the ED.
The notice was served as gold smuggling case prime accused Swapna Suresh's relation with Ravindran surfaced.
Raveendran's name figures at many places in the written statements given by Sivasankar as reply to ED's questions. The ED has got more than one statement as evidence which indicates that Sivasankar would not take any decision without the knowledge of Raveendran.
Pinarayi Vijayan on Thursday came out in support of Raveendran and said he and his party trusts him and hence was not worried.
"We are not worried.The probe agencies might have called him for some information. He has worked in various positions with the party and the previous Left government and we all trust him. Summoning by a probe agency does not make him a culprit," Pinarayi said.
Meanwhile, the special PMLA court extended by six days the ED custody of Sivasankar as he was produced before it after the seven-day custody granted to the agency last week ended on Thursday.
The ED alleged in the affidavit that the WhatsApp chats between Suresh and Sivasankar extracted from seized mobile handsets revealed that the officer was sharing confidential government information pertaining to LIFE Mission and KFON projects with her.
