Kerala govt revokes suspension of gold smuggling case accused Senior IAS officer M Sivasankar

Thiruvananthapuram: The suspension of Senior IAS officer M Sivasankar, who was arrested by the central agencies in the sensational Kerala gold smuggling case has been revoked by the Kerala government on Tuesday on the basis of a recommendation made by a committee headed by the state's Chief Secretary.

Sivasankar, who is cooling his heels at his home now after being released from the prison on February 4 last year, was the former principal secretary to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and former IT Secretary.

He was suspended from service when reports came out on how he used his clout in the office of Chief Minister of Kerala and appointed Swapna Suresh a prime accused in the gold smuggling case, at a high-paying job in the IT department, even when she is alleged to have not even passed Class 10. The suspension was extended twice earlier.

In October 2020, Sivasankar was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and Customs, and for 98 days he was in jail, after which he got bail.

The smuggling case came to light on July 5, 2020, when the Customs arrested Sarith, a former employee of the UAE Consulate, for allegedly smuggling gold in diplomatic baggage destined for the Consulate. The consignment was found camouflaged in diplomatic baggage from the UAE that is exempted from inspection in accordance with the Vienna Convention.

Swapna Suresh, who previously worked in the UAE Consulate, and her associate Sandip Nair, were arrested in the case by the NIA from Bengaluru a few days later.

The dollar case relates to the alleged smuggling of USD 1,90,000 (equivalent to Rs 1.30 crore) by a former finance head of the UAE Consulate in Thiruvananthapuram to Muscat in Oman