The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has summoned M. Sivasankar, former Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister, to its office in Kochi for further questioning. It had interviewed him at the police club here for four hours on Thursday.
A State police officer privy to the NIA procedure said the agency might have stumbled upon evidence that required more clarification from Mr. Sivasankar.
In Kerala, a tangled web of gold
A mere subpoena need not always be an indication of wrongdoing or precursor of an arrest.
The NIA was traditionally tight-lipped about matters of investigation. Mr. Sivasankar had repeatedly maintained that he was innocent of the crime though he had on some occasions associated with a few of the suspects in the case.
Political implications
The NIA summons was not without political implications. It had reportedly sought surveillance video footage of Mr. Sivasankar’s office in the Secretariat.
The Opposition has called for a Statewide protest on August 1 seeking the resignation of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. Mr. Vijayan reacted to the development by stating that the “NIA was on the right track.”
Crowdfunding
Meanwhile, Customs enforcers said initial inquiries indicated that at least two of the accused had crowd-sourced seed money for the smuggling operation from some people in North Kerala.
They said the financiers had substantial cash reserves at hand always. They believed that their faith frowned upon the practice of interest and hence were against depositing cash in bank accounts.
Investigators said gold smugglers paid the funders a share of their profits as commission. The system operated based solely on trust like hawala networks.
Undeterred
Moreover, the financiers were also willing to take risks and not easily deterred if they lost money when law enforcers busted gold smuggling runs.
“It’s like gambling. The financiers hope to recover the money by investing in a fresh smuggling bid. Loss is part of the game. So are profits and many do not view the offence as a heinous crime,” an official said.
