Kerala gold smuggling: Strict action against M Sivasankar if found guilty, says CM Pinarayi Vijayan

Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala) [India], July 14 (ANI): Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Tuesday said that the government will take appropriate action against M Sivasankar, former Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister's Office (CMO), if the investigation agencies find him guilty in the Kerala gold smuggling case.
Reacting to the customs questioning M Sivasankar, who was also the former IT secretary, the chief minister said, "There is no ground to suspend M Sivasankar for now. Today, the call records of Sivasankar were out and it revealed that he had a telephonic conversation with two accused including a woman. Based on the new findings, a panel headed by the chief secretary will initiate a probe. The chief secretary is already conducting a probe on the appointment of Swapna Suresh under the IT department."
When asked about Swapna Suresh's call records showing nine conversations with Minister K T Jaleel, Vijayan said that Jaleel himself had clarified about the calls he made to her.
"The minister also shared a screenshot of the message he received from the UAE consulate general. He spoke to the accused woman for official reasons. There is no need to see anything else in it, " he said.
Regarding investigative agencies' possibility of probing the CMO, the chief minister said, "Let the investigation agency conduct a probe in a free and fair manner. If they want to enquire anything about the CMO, they will come here. Currently, the focus of the probe is gold smuggling, which is a serious issue."
"I have nothing to be afraid of but I am sure some people's heartbeat has paced up after the investigation was launched. Everyone will get to know who they are when the agencies reach them," he added. (ANI)