Former principal secretary of Kerala CMO, M. Sivasankar, embroiled in the gold smuggling case, cannot be arrested till October 23, the Kerala High Court ordered in an urgent hearing on Monday. The court order came in response to the anticipatory bail plea filed by Sivasankar before the Kerala High Court in a case registered by the Customs Department.
In an earlier plea, the senior bureaucrat had appealed for anticipatory bail against arrest from the Enforcement Directorate. Then too, the high court had awarded Sivasankar immunity from arrest till October 23.
Hearing in both the cases will now be taken up again on Friday for further hearing.
The suspended IAS officer, meanwhile, has been hospitalised and is under treatment at a medical college in the state capital. He was shifted to hospital on Friday. Customs officials had reached his home in the city to serve notice asking him to appear before them with some relevant documents at around 6 pm on Friday, when he complained of uneasiness. He was taken to the hospital by the officials in a Customs vehicle.
