Kochi: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Thursday grilled former principal secretary to chief minister, M Sivasankar for about 9 hours in connection with the high-profile gold smuggling case. He was interrogated with one of the main accused, Swapna Suresh.
According to reports, Sivasankar told NIA that he had only personal relation with Swapna Suresh and has been knowing her for many years now. Sivasankar stated that only after the gold was seized from diplomatic baggage did Swapna informed everything about it.
He also admitted that Swapna called him several times to get the baggage released however, Sivasankar did not help her out. Until then he was unaware of Swapna’s gold smuggling dealings, Sivasankar told NIA.
Swapna had deleted her WhatsApp and Telegram chats with Sivasankar earlier. The NIA team retrieved these chats and when asked about it, Sivasankar said that he does not know anything about it.
However, the NIA has found that Sivasankar had some links with the gold smuggling and his statements seem to be contradictory. Indications are that he will be questioned again after examining the digital evidence and statement.
