Suspended IAS officer of Kerala M Sivasankar was on Thursday remanded in judicial custody till November 26 by a court in Kochi in an Enforcement Directorate (ED) case pertaining to money laundering charges in the Kerala gold smuggling racket. The Special Court for Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) cases passed the order when Sivasankar was produced before it on the expiry of his ED custody.

 The agency strongly opposed the bail application of Sivasankar when it came up for hearing in the court on Thursday. The court, which heard the arguments of prosecution and the defence in detail, posted the matter for Tuesday for orders. The ED alleged that Sivasankar had a part in the gold smuggling through the diplomatic channel.

The National Investigation Agency, Customs and the ED are conducting separate investigations into the seizure of gold worth nearly Rs 15 crore from diplomatic baggage of UAE Consulate at Thiruvananthapuram airport on July 5. The ED has alleged that Sivasankar had intervened to get the diplomatic baggage containing smuggled gold cleared without examination by the Customs at the Thiruvananthapuram international airport. The IAS officer was suspended after his links to Suresh surfaced.

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