HC restrains Customs from arresting Sivasankar till Oct 23, suspended officer discharged from hospital : Main News

Kochi/Thiruvananthapuram: In a temporary relief to suspended IAS officer M Sivasankar, the Kerala High Court on Monday restrained the Customs, probing the gold smuggling case, from arresting him till October 23 while he was discharged from a hospital, three days after being admitted there following complaints of uneasiness. The court had earlier issued a similar direction to the Enforcement Directorate, which is probing the money trail in the sensational smuggling case. On Monday, the court directed the Customs (Preventive) Commissionerate to file its counter on Sivasankar''s anticipatory bail plea by October 23, the same day till which the ED has also been restrained from arresting him.

Sivasankar, initially admitted to a private hospital on October 16 after complaining of illness, was discharged from the Medical College hospital in Thiruvananthapuram, where he was later shifted to. Meanwhile Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said the government had not intervened in any manner to thwart the arrest of Sivasankar. "Whatever be the position of a person, if he has done any wrong, he should be punished. When we came to know that the official had a relation with the accused, he was removed from the position of principal secretary to the chief minister and suspended after inquiry.

No one is thwarting the investigation agencies from arresting him," Vijayan told reporters here. Opposition leader in the assembly Ramesh Chennithala alleged that the ''hospital drama'' by Sivasankar was only a ploy to delay his arrest. Both the chief minister and Sivasankar were mutually helping each other in the case relating to the smuggling of gold through diplomatic baggage, he alleged. Earlier,in his petition filed before the court,Sivasankar submitted that Customs officials, who arrived at his residence in Thiruvananthapuram on Friday to serve notice on him to appear before the probe team, took him along with them.

As he developed chest pain and at the instance of the officers, they rushed him to a nearby hospital in their car, he said. He was totally exhausted due to the constant and continued travel from Thiruvananthapuram to Kochi to attend the questioning of the agency on various days,Sivasankar said. He said he was questioned by different agencies for more than 90 hours and even after prolonged interrogation, none of the them implicated him as an accused. He alleged that the attempt of the Customs was to sabotage the process of law and choose a date, that is Friday evening, to arrest him. Sivasankar submitted that he apprehends that the Customs will manage to register new crimes without any basis and get him remanded to custody "to satisfy political wisdom as well as other vested interests."

Seeking anticipatory bail, he said he has complied with all the directions till now and there is no scope for him absconding also. Later in the day he was discharged from the Medical College hospital at Thiruvananthapuram. The private hospital where he was admitted to had ruled out a stroke, but stated that the MRI of the spine revealed multiple disc prolapse in the lumbar and cervical region. His angiogram was normal. The back pain was due to lumbar disc prolapse compressing the spinal roots, the hospital said.