Hours after the Kerala government removed M. Sivasankar as principal secretary to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, after his name emerged in a gold smuggling case related to the UAE consulate in Thiruvananthapuram, he was removed as IT secretary, too.
Mohammed Y. Safirulla has been appointed the new IT secretary.
Earlier, IAS Mir Mohammed was given additional charge of principal secretary to the chief minister, after Sivasankar was removed.
The removal of Sivasankar comes in the backdrop of the gold smuggling controversy, where the role of a former woman employee of the IT department, Swapna Suresh, is being probed. Her role is, reportedly, being investigated in the seizure of 30kg of gold smuggled through "diplomatic baggage" at the Thiruvananthapuram international airport.
The Customs had arrested an accused in the case on Monday and is on the lookout for the woman, who had been appointed as liasion officer on a six-month contract in the Space Park under the IT department.
She was sacked after her name emerged in the smuggling case.
Both the BJP and Congress had alleged Sivasankar, in his role as IT secretary, was involved in making calls to the customs department to clear a diplomatic package that was smuggling gold. Sivasankar was accused of shielding Swapna Suresh, who is considered to be one of the "kingpins" of the syndicate involved in smuggling of gold into Thiruvananthapuram airport.
Sivasankar had allegedly played a role in appointing Swapna as operations manager at the Space Park.
Vijayan had said Swapna's appointment was without his knowledge. On Monday, the government had sought an explanation from Sivasankar.
Sivasankar was previously criticised for his role in hiring American firm Sprinklr for analysing public data related to COVID-19.
(With PTI inputs)
