Kerala: M Sivasankar’s bail plea rejected

KOCHI: Additional CJM (economic offences) court dismissed the bail petition of former principal secretary M Sivasankar ‘observing that strong prima facie grounds exist to hold that Sivasankar is concerned with smuggling operation’. ACJM Deepu C accepted customs’ arguments that if Sivasankar is released on bail, he would tamper evidence and influence witnesses with the help of ‘big shots’.
The court observed that the statements of prime accused Sarith P S and Swapna Suresh under CrPC Section 164 ‘meticulously stated the names of those high-profile persons, complicity of the petitioner [Sivasankar] and his active involvement, misusing of power, etc’.
The court observed that the contention of Sivasankar’s counsel that he is falsely implicated purely on the basis of the statements of accomplice cannot be allowed. “Truly, he manipulated his powers as he could easily influence all machineries of state government. Those facts are not highlighted since the case at hand relates to smuggling and his alleged role of abetment,” the court order stated.
Court added that it found force in the the special public prosecutor’s contention that Sivasankar hasn’t fully cooperated with the investigation. “With sufficient knowledge, Sivasankar misused his privileged position as principal secretary and close-proximity with CM, to support smuggling activities. The evasive answer to the queries put to him by the investigating officer and his deliberate attempt to feign loss of memory about the details certain WhatsApp chats that pinpoint his role of abetment, can be considered as strong indication of his complicity,” the order said.
“An effective intensive investigation is required to find out the co-signer, financier, facilitator and also the stakeholders of the deal in India. As economic offences will destroy the economic fabric of the nation, the contentions such as offences under Customs Act are compoundable and summarily triable and thus offences are generally considered as less serious, cannot be accepted,” the court observed.
The court rejected Sivasankar’s illness claim. tnn