Thiruvananthapuram, Nov 2 (IANS): Bad times continue for M. Sivasankar, the former secretary to Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, after the Vigilance and Anti Corruption Bureau (VACB) on Monday named him as the fifth accused in the 'Life Mission' case.
At a time when various agencies are probing the gold smuggling case, Chief Minister Vijayan received another shock when it surfaced that Swapna Suresh played a key role in the Life Mission project (building homes for the homeless with the help of sponsors on government land) in Thrissur. She was paid a huge commission by the builder for the funds that came from the UAE-based charity organisation, Red Crescent.
The VACB probe team has named the three prime accused in the gold smuggling case as the other accused in the Life Mission case as well and submitted its report to the Vigilance court here on Monday. The three are Swapna Suresh, P.S. Sarith and Sandip Nair.
A team of VACB officials is all set to question Swapna Suresh, (presently in judicial custody in the gold smuggling case), in the Life Mission case, and it would be the first time a Kerala agency would be taking her statement.
Leader of opposition Ramesh Chennithala reacting to the VACB naming Sivasankar as the fifth accused, said, "Finally, for the first time a state agency has registered a case in the various allegations that have surfaced. If Sivasankar is the fifth accused, then Vijayan is the first accused," said Chennithala.
Swapna Suresh has been questioned by the NIA, ED and Customs.
Sivasankar is already in the custody of the Enforcement Directorate after he was arrested by the ED on October 28 for his close links with the prime accused in the gold smuggling case.
The Vijayan government was rocked by the gold smuggling case in July, which led to the arrest of Swapna Suresh. Later, when it came to light that she was very close to Sivasankar, the Chief Minister first removed him from the post and later suspended him from service.
It was on a complaint by local Congress legislator Anil Akkara that the CBI registered a case and started a probe, but the state owned Life Mission approached the Kerala high court asking for a stay on the ongoing CBI probe. The court granted a partial stay of two months and told the CBI that while it can go ahead with the probe, officials of Life Mission should not be questioned till the court's final orders.