Kochi: Suspended Kerala bureaucrat M Sivasankar has levelled serious allegations against the Enforcement Directorate (ED) which has arrested him in a case relating to the diplomatic baggage gold smuggling scam.
Sivasankar on Monday told the Ernakulam Principal Sessions Court that he was arrested by the ED as he refused to name political leaders in the case despite the central agency pressurising him to do so.
Sivasankar made the allegations in a note submitted to the court which is scheduled to hear his bail plea on Tuesday.
Sivasankar, who was removed from the post of the principal secretary to the chief minister, said the ongoing investigation has been politically motivated.
He said the WhatsApp chats submitted to the court by the ED, purportedly between him and Swapna Suresh, a key accused in the smuggling case, were not correct. He also submitted the full texts of his WhatsApp chats with Swapna to substantiate his claims.
Sivasankar said he has been arraigned as an accused in the case based on the WhatsApp communication with his chartered accountant Venugopal. He said he introduced Venugopal to Swapna when the latter sought his help to deal with some tax related matters. He said he had never discussed anything about smuggling with Swapna. There were reports that Venugopal helped Swapna open a bank locker.
Sivasankar told the court that ED was orchestrating a media trial against him by leaking information relating to his questioning.
He said the reports that he confessed to calling a Customs officer to release the baggage containing smuggled gold was a lie.
He also cited the contradictions in the findings of the ED and the Customs regarding the money found from Swapna's locker. While the Customs in its arrest report says that Swapna made the money through smuggling, ED says she received the amount as kickbacks for leaking details of some government projects, Sivasankar said.
He said the ED was fabricating lies to deny him bail.
Sivasankar was in the custody of the Enforcement Directorate since October 29 after his anticipatory bail plea was rejected by the Kerala High Court and on three occasions, his ED custody was extended.
On Thursday, while the counsel for Sivasankar argued his case, stating that he has done no wrong, the ED submitted fresh evidences against Sivasankar in a sealed cover, which explained in detail the role of one of the most powerful officers in the state, ever since Vijayan assumed office in May 2016.
The ED went to the extent of stating in the court that the prime accused in the gold smuggling and Life Mission cases, Swapna Suresh, was being used by Sivasankar who knew everything what was happening.
The Customs had arrested P.S. Sarith, a former employee of the UAE Consulate here, on July 5 for allegedly smuggling gold in a diplomatic baggage destined for the Consulate. Another former Consulate staff, Swapna Suresh, and her associate Sandip Nair were also arrested by the National Investigation Agency from Bengaluru.
Vijayan removed Sivasankar as his Principal Secretary and then as IT Secretary after it surfaced that Swapna and Sivasankar were allegedly close friends.
Vijayan has all along said that he had no clue of what was happening, but the principal opposition parties - Congress and BJP - have alleged that Vijayan knew everything and is now scared that the probe may enter his office. The ED has asked his assistant private secretary C.M. Ravindran to appear before the agency, which he has not done as he has turned Covid positive.
