Senior bureaucrat, jailed in Kerala gold smuggling case, pens book

A month after the Kerala government had revoked his suspension, top bureaucrat M Sivasankar, who was arrested by the central agencies in the sensational gold smuggling case, is coming out with an autobiographical book narrating his version on the controversial episode.

Titled as 'Ashwathamavu Verum Oru Aana' (Ashwathama is just an elephant), the book is published by noted publisher DC Books.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's former principal secretary was keeping away from media glare even after he was re-inducted into the service on January 4 after a year-long suspension.

Interestingly, the announcement was made by the publisher on Thursday, which is the first anniversary of a local court granting him bail on February 3, 2021 after keeping him in jail for 98 days in connection with the infamous case that had triggered a political turmoil in the state.

The book is expected to hit the shelves on Saturday, sources said.

According to excerpts from the book, released by television channels, the senior bureaucrat who was arrested in the case in 2020 has rejected all the charges levelled against him by the central agencies.

Sivasankar, in the book, claimed that he had made no illegal intervention in the gold smuggling incident and never made any undue favour for Swapna Suresh, the prime accused, in the case.

He also alleged that he was targeted and haunted by the media over the incident.

The officer, in the book, claimed that he was shell-shocked to know that Suresh, who was a close friend of him for three years, was a participant in smuggling. Sivasankar also charged in the book that there was pressure upon the investigating agencies to drag Chief Minister into the case and he was arrested to get a statement against Vijayan.

Sivasankar, who was the former principal secretary to CM Vijayan and former IT Secretary, was suspended from service after his links with Suresh had surfaced.

He was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and Customs in the cases relating to the sensational gold smuggling through diplomatic channel, money trail and dollar smuggling.

The gold smuggling case is regarding the seizure of 30 kg of gold on July 5, 2020 from a diplomatic baggage at the air cargo of the Trivandrum International Airport by the Customs (Preventive) Commissionerate, Kochi.

The consignment was found camouflaged in diplomatic baggage from the UAE that is exempted from inspection in accordance with the Vienna Convention.

The dollar case relates to 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.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)