Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's additional private secretary C M Raveendran, who was admitted to the Thiruvananthapuram Medical College on December 8 for post-COVID complications, will be discharged on Friday.
Nonetheless, it is certain that Raveendran will not appear before the Enforcement Directorate on or before December 14, the last phase of the local body polls in Kerala.
The Medical Board that approved Raveendran's discharge on Friday said he would require a week's rest. The Medical Board also said he was suffering from spondylosis (arthritis of the spine) but the condition was not grave enough to warrant a surgery. The Board felt that physiotherapy at home and medicines would do him just fine.
Raveendran was admitted to the Medical College after the ED had issued summons to him to appear before it on December 10. He had complained of post-COVID complications like breathlessness, severe headache and neurological issues.
It was the third time Raveendran had skipped the ED summons. First time, he could not appear as he had contracted COVID-19 the day after he received the ED notice and was admitted to Thiruvananthapuram Medical College.
The second time, when he was supposed to be present at the ED office on November 27, he informed the ED that he had post-COVID complications.
At this point, fearing Raveendran's repeated refusals to appear before the ED could send the wrong message, the CPM had intervened and insisted that Raveendran should accept the ED summons. It was widely felt that Raveendran could not turn down the third summons from the ED.
The ED wanted Raveendran to appear before it on December 10, the second phase of the local body polls. The timing irked the party. The CPM read it as a trap laid by the central agency at the behest of their political masters.
It was felt the live coverage of Raveendran's interrogation by the ED on election day could influence the minds of undecided voters. If there was an arrest at the end of the day, the party felt that apart from the serious embarrassment it would cause the Chief Minister, it could also affect voting behaviour in the third phase.
The CPM, therefore, took the official stand that Raveendran was seriously unwell, and this was articulated by none other than the state secretary A Vijayaraghavan.
The ED, too, is not in a hurry to question Raveendran. The process of collecting evidence and secret investigations are going on briskly. Sources said the ED also plans to interrogate close relatives and friends of Raveendran before they get him across the table.
The available statements of the accused, especially that of Swapna Suresh, already makes Raveendran a witness in both the gold smuggling and Wadakkanchery Life Mission cases. The Chief Minister's right hand man's alleged stake in Uralungal Labour Contract Co-operative Society is also under the scanner.
The ED had also secured Raveendran's and his wife's property details from the Registration Department. Official sources said the ED had also raided certain firms in Kozhikode and Kannur that allegedly have links to Raveendran.