The state government had suspended Sivsankar after his alleged links with the prime accused in the gold smuggling case came to the fore last year.
IANS photo
The suspension of Kerala’s foremost IPS officer, M. Sivasankar has been extended. He was Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s principal secretary.
The state government had suspended Sivsankar after his alleged links with the prime accused in the gold smuggling case came to the fore last year.
Soon after his suspension on July 17, he was arrested following several rounds of questioning by the NIA, Customs and the Enforcement Directorate.
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The bureaucrat spent several months in a Kochi jail, and now he stays put at his residence in the state capital after being granted bail.
The decision to revoke Sivasankar’s suspension rested on the state government, and its decision has already been conveyed to the Centre.
It is to be noted that Pinarayi Vijayan had first removed Sivasankar as his Principal Secretary and then as IT Secretary after it surfaced that he was close friends with Swapna Suresh, former Consulate staffer, a key accused in the case.
The controversy kicked off when custom officials arrested P.S. Sarith, a former employee of the UAE Consulate here, on July 5 last year for allegedly smuggling gold in a diplomatic bag that had been sent to the Consulate.
(With IANS inputs)
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