Senior IAS officer M Sivasankar suspended, dept probe on: CM

Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala government on Thursday suspended senior IAS officer M Sivasankar pending inquiry, in connection with his alleged links with the accused in the sensational gold smuggling case.

The suspension was announced by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan at a press meet here.

Sivasankar was removed as the principal secretary to the chief minister and IT secretary after reports of his alleged links with the accused in the case emerged A high-level panel headed by Chief Secretary, Dr Vishwas Mehta had been directed by the government to look into the allegations and submit thereport in three days.

The report was submitted to the government this evening following which the actionwas taken.

The committee had found that Sivasankar had violated All India Service Rules, Vijayan said, adding departmental level inquiry was on.

The government action comes days after customs officials had grilled Sivasankar for nearly nine hours in connection with the case.