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The Customs on Monday sought extension of custody of suspended IAS officer M Sivasankar arrested by it in reference to the Kerala gold smuggling case. It filed a petition in the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate (Economic Offences) courtroom looking for seven-day extension of departmental custody of the accused.
The Customs (Preventive) Commissionerate claimed that key accused Swapna Suresh, throughout her custodial interrogation, has made revelations implicating Sivasankar in the foreign money smuggling case with robust hyperlinks in the gold smuggling case. The company submitted earlier than the courtroom a replica of the assertion made by Suresh earlier than the investigating officer underneath Section 108 of Customs Act on November 27.
The customs made the declare because the five-day custody of Sivasankar granted by the courtroom ended on Monday. The courtroom posted for Tuesday the applying looking for extension of custody of Sivasankar.
Suresh and one other accused in the gold smuggling case, Sarith PS, had been additionally produced in the courtroom as their five-day custody ended in the present day. They had been arrested in reference to allegedly helping a former worker of the UAE consulate in Thiruvananthapuram in smuggling USD 1,90,000 to Muscat from the capital metropolis.
Considering a separate software from the Customs looking for seven extra days extension of custody of each Suresh and Sarith, the courtroom despatched them to a few extra days custody. Earlier, the Customs (Preventive) Commissionerate, which is probing the gold smuggling case, claimed that former finance head of UAE consulate, Thiruvananthapuram, Khaled Mohamed Ali Shoukri, had taken out USD 1,90,000 (equal to Rs 1.30 crore) hid in his purse.
Shoukri, an Egyptian nationwide, was accompanied by Suresh and Sarith until Oman throughout his journey from Thiruvananthapuram worldwide airport by Oman Airways on August 7, 2019. In the applying looking for custody of Sivasankar, the Customs stated extra investigation is required on two extra cellphones utilized by Sivasankar.
The company stated in the course of the course of custodial interrogation of Sivasankar, he had said, underneath part 108 of the Customs Act, that he was utilizing just one cell phone, which he had declared earlier than the investigating companies. But investigation revealed that he was utilizing two extra cellphones, which he didn’t expose earlier than the companies, the Customs stated in the petition.
Out of the 2 telephones, one quantity has been recognized and retrieved by the investigating staff on November 29 and it’s being analysed, the petition stated. Efforts are in progress to establish and get better the second cell, the company stated looking for the continued custody of Sivasankar.
The customs stated it was essential to find the second machine and in addition to corroborate/confront proof that could be recovered from each the gadgets. The customs effected the arrest of Sivasankar, former Principal Secretary to the Kerala Chief Minister, on November 24 in reference to the gold smuggling case.
The Customs has stated it has arrested round 15 folks, together with Swapna Suresh, Sarith PS and Sandeep Nair, in reference to the seizure of 30 kg gold from a diplomatic baggage of UAE consulate in Thiruvananthapuram on July 5. The National Investigation Agency (NIA), the ED and the Customs are conducting separate investigations into the racket that was busted with the seizure of gold.
The IAS officer was suspended after his hyperlinks to Suresh, a former worker of the consulate, surfaced..
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