Kochi: The questioning of suspended senior IAS officer M Sivasankar by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in connection with the Thiruvananthapuram gold smuggling case resumed on the second day on Tuesday at the agency's office in Kochi.
Sivasankar would be questioned from a prepared list of questions by the NIA. His statements will be provided to the Customs department as well.
This is the third time in the past one week that NIA is grilling the officer, removed as Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and the state IT Secretary after allegations of his link with a key woman accused in the case surfaced.
The agency is yet to decide if Sivasankar is an accused or witness in the case.
KT Ramees to be questioned by NIA
Meanwhile, the NIA also took KT Ramees, one of the key accused in the case, into custody for questioning on Tuesday.
He was brought to the agency's Kochi office for interrogation. He will remain in their custody for 7 days.
Sivasankar may be relieved from the interrogation only after NIA completes questioning Ramees. It is also likely that the duo will be questioned together.
Whether the senior civil servant is linked to Ramees or not, will prove crucial to the case.
Ramees, arrested by the Customs (Preventive) Commissionerate on July 11 in connection with the case, was formally arrested by the NIA on Monday.
Filing the application for 10-day custody of Ramees, the NIA said his custodial interrogation is required to unearth the truth in the case. Considering the plea, the NIA Court granted the investigation agency seven day custody of the accused.
The case first surfaced when P S Sarith Kumar, the former PRO of the UAE Consulate in Thiruvananthapuram, was arrested by the Customs on July 5 when he was allegedly facilitating the smuggling of 30 kg gold in a diplomatic baggage from Dubai to the Trivandrum International Airport.
The case became murkier when the name of Swapna Suresh, a former employee of the UAE Consulate and later employed with the IT Department, surfaced in the case. Her links with Sivasankar came up later during the investigation.
Another accused, Sandeep Nair, was arrested along on charge of direct involvement in the smuggling.
In an earlier report submitted before the NIA special court, Kochi, the agency said that it had reasons to believe that the gold smuggling bid is connected to terror funding.
Interrogation continues into second day
Sivasankar, who was questioned for nearly nine hours on Monday, was directed by the NIA to appear before the team again this morning.
Earlier on July 23, Sivasankar was questioned for five hours by the NIA team at the Peroorkada police club in Thiruvananthapuram.
The Customs department had also questioned him earlier.
Sivasankar arrived in his own vehicle at the NIA office in Kochi around 9:20 am on Monday after a nearly five-hour trip from the state capital.
Security at the NIA office was beefed up and no one except the media was allowed to stay put in front of the premises.
Police officials took the IAS officer inside the NIA office and after the mandatory COVID-19 test, he was escorted to a special room for questioning. Sivasankar was also served breakfast before his questioning began.
Woman IPS officer leads investigation
A woman IPS officer from the NIA has arrived from Hyderabad to lead the agency officials in questioning Sivasankar, while other officials will be linked online from various offices during the process.
The Customs had first quizzed Sivasankar for nine hours after the case surfaced and they arrested Sarith. Swapna and Sandeep were arrested by the NIA from Bengaluru.
Sivasankar has maintained during his earlier questioning that his relations with Swapna were personal and not linked to their activities.
After the questioning on Monday, Sivasankar went to see his lawyer around 7:30 pm. He, however, abandoned the plan as he was followed by media persons. It is learned that he met the lawyer late at night to seek legal advice.
Sivasankar will remain in Kochi till his interrogation is completed. He stayed at a hotel in the city on Monday.
The NIA has not found any evidence pointing to his involvement in the alleged anti-national activities of the accused.
Sivasankar had earlier dismissed the suggestion of filing for an anticipatory bail application before appearing for the questioning.
However, as the interrogation progressed, he sought legal help. The investigation team said it would give him time to see his lawyer after the first round of questioning.
Monitoring phone numbers
During Sivasankar’s interrogation for nine hours, the NIA was also monitoring 12 cell phone numbers.
The private numbers were of people under suspicion in the case, including some high-ranking officials. The cyber cell of the NIA was monitoring the numbers.
The numbers belonged to those whose names the agency suspected Sivasankar would reveal if he had knowledge about the smuggling operations. The NIA wanted to keep a tab on the moves of these people, including political figures and high-ranking officials, when Sivasankar was being questioned.
