THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Customs has questioned former IT secretary M Sivasankar for a marathon nine hours in connection with gold smuggling case. A three-member team led by Assistant Commissioner H Ramamurthy questioned the senior IAS officer at the Customs office near the Secretariat.
Earlier on Tuesday the Customs officials had called on Sivasankar at his residence in Poojappura and served him notice to appear for questioning. Following this he turned up at the Customs office by 5 .15 pm.
As the questioning prolonged late into night, there were speculations that Sivasankar will be taken to Kochi for further probe and his arrest will be recorded if required. However, the Customs wound up the questioning by 2 pm and let off Sivasankar.
The sources said Sivasankar fully cooperated with the questioning. The Customs officials sought details on his connection with Swapna Suresh, Saritha Kumar and Sandeep Nair, who were arrested in connection with the case.
The intention behind quizzing the bureaucrat was to find whether he had any prior knowledge about the gold smuggling. Sources said the officer answered that he knew Swapna and the others, but was unaware of their connection with smuggling rackets.
The sleuths also sought details of the officer's meetings with the accused. They also inquired Sivasankar about the phone calls he had received from the accused.
It's learnt that the Customs would summon Sivasankar again for questioning. The National Investigation Agency that's also probing the case is likely to record the statement of the officer in the coming days.
Meanwhile, the NIA is learnt to have raised the residence of Sander's house near Nedumangadu.