A LIFE MISSION GONE WRONG

Jeemon Jacob

- 

It was an unceremonious exit with no fanfare or mentions of his contributions to the service. M. Sivasankar, who was principal secretary to Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan during his first term, retired from service on January 31. On February 14, he was taken into custody by the Enforcement Directorate (ED)-his third arrest since the scam about alleged gold smuggling via diplomatic baggage broke in 2020. This time, it was over allegations that he had received kickbacks in one of the government's Life Mission scheme projects, where low-cost houses were to be built for the 2018 flood victims.

The arrest comes in the wake of new revelations by former UAE consulate worker Swapna Suresh, one of the prime accused in the gold smuggling case. Based on the interrogation of Sivasankar and Swapna's auditor Venugopal, ED sources say C.M. Raveendran, the current additional private secretary to the CM, will get a call next.