Thiruvananthapuram, Aug 17 (IANS): Lashing out at M. Sivasankar, the former principal secretary to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and also the State IT secretary, a senior CPI-M state minister described him as a traitor.

Speaking to the media here on Monday, PWD Minister G. Sudhakaran said that he deserves no sympathy.

"Sivasankar is a traitor and would get the appropriate punishment. The buck stops with Sivasankar and only he is responsible for it and there is no reason to blame Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, even though the opposition is trying to throw stones at him, it's going to rebound on them very strongly," said an angry Sudhakaran, who is known for his razor sharp tongue.

The gold smuggling case in the state was unearthed when P.S. Sarith, a former employee of the UAE Consulate here, was arrested by the customs department on July 5 when he was facilitating the smuggling of 30 kg gold in diplomatic baggage to Thiruvananthapuram from Dubai.

It turned murkier when the name of Swapna Suresh, a former employee of the Consulate, and employed with the IT Department, surfaced and more so when her links with Sivasankar, the state's most powerful official, were exposed.

The IAS officer was subsequently removed from both posts and then suspended by Vijayan.

Ina related development the Enforcement Directorate which questioned Sivasankar last week for over five hours has now pointed out that he and Swapna had gone on three foreign trips starting in 2017 with two trips in 2018. In the October 2018 trip the two reached the UAE a few days before Vijayan reached there.

The ED has also asked for the details of the Life Mission project- the flagship scheme of Vijayan, which provides homes for the downtrodden and the weaker sections of the society.