Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday will produce M Sivasankar, the former principal secretary to Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan, before the Ernakulam District and Sessions Court here after his arrest a day ago in connection with the investigation into the LIFE Mission project.
Sivasankar was taken to the Ernakulam General Hospital for a medical examination this morning.
This is the first arrest in the case, pertaining to the state government's LIFE Mission project, which intended to provide homes to the poor who lost their houses in the floods of 2018. The housing project was proposed at Vaddakanchery in Thrissur district.
The project intended to build houses for 140 families in Vadakkanchery by spending Rs 14.50 crore out of Rs 18.50 crore granted by the Red Crescent via the UAE consulate. The contract noted the construction of a health care centre using the remaining amount.
The ED case claims that Sivasankar and others made undue monetary gains in the form of kickbacks in awarding the contract for the construction of the houses under the LIFE Mission scheme.
Santhosh Eapan, the managing director of UNITAC, the construction firm selected for construction of the houses under the LIFE Mission project had informed ED that the accused in the case including Swapna Suresh had received a bribe worth Rs 4.48 crore for the project
Other accused in the case- Swapna Suresh and Sarith PS - have alleged that Sivasankar had a role in this
Sivasankar retired from service in January this year.
The former bureaucrat was arrested by the Customs Department in October 2020 on charges of smuggling gold from Dubai using the diplomatic channel. It had come to light after 30 kg of gold worth Rs 14.82 crore smuggled in a consignment camouflaged as diplomatic baggage was busted by the Customs in Thiruvananthapuram on July 5, 2019. He was released on bail later.
( With inputs from ANI )
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