The Principal Sessions Court, Ernakulam, on Tuesday rejected the bail plea of M. Sivasankar, former Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, in the diplomatic baggage gold smuggling case.
The suspended bureaucrat will remain in the Kakkanad jail here till November 26, the end of the remand period.
Kauser Edappagath, Special Judge for Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) Cases, said in his order that it was not possible at this stage to believe that the petitioner was not guilty of the alleged offences.
An investigation was on and it was at a crucial stage, he said. The court pointed out that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) may require more time to collect all materials related to the alleged nexus of the petitioner with the crime.
ED’s objection
Earlier in the day, the ED filed an objection against the argument note presented by Sivsankar’s counsel on Monday alleging that the agency had exerted pressure on him to name leaders of political parties in the gold smuggling case.
The agency said the allegation was made with mala fide intention. Sivasankar had never raised this at the time of custody or at the time of argument in the court. This was only an afterthought, it said.
The ED said investigations had revealed that Sivasankar was in the know of the gold smuggling through the diplomatic channel and he was a beneficiary of the kickbacks received from Unitac Builders in the LIFE Mission project.
The WhatsApp chats between Sivasankar and key accused Swapna Suresh showed that the former was sharing confidential information with her about certain bidders for the LIFE Mission and Kerala Fibre Optic Network projects. Sivasankar had shown keen interest to award some subcontracts in these projects to Unitac Builders, it alleged.
The agency said its investigation into the kickbacks allegedly received by Sivasankar in other projects such as Smart City Kochi and Taurus Downtown was progressing.
