Thiruvananthapuram: The former principal secretary to Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, M.Shivashankar got bail from the Economic Offence special court, Ernakulam in the dollar smuggling case. He has already got bails in the gold smuggling and money laundering cases.

This is the third case where he was charged for smuggling dollars to the UAE. The court granted him bail after the arguments by the Customs were countered by his legal team.

Shivashankar will come out of the Kakkanad sub jail in Ernakulam on Wednesday after 98 days of incarceration. He was granted bail after furnishing a bond of Rs 2 lakh and two personal securities of the same amount. He will also have to appear before the investigating officer on all Mondays.

Shivashankar was a powerful bureaucrat in the Chief Minister’s Office. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and the CPI(M) have already distanced themselves from the fallen bureaucrat.

The first accused Swapna Prabha Suresh and second accused P.S. Sarith are still in jail after they were charged under Conservation of Foreign Exchange and Prevention of Smuggling Activities Act (COFEPOSA) case. However, the National Investigation Agency had registered the case under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act for anti-national activities and had questioned Shivashankar several times but had not charged him under the Act.

The bail of Shivashankar will bring some relief to the LDF in the coming Assembly elections and the front will conduct a blitzkrieg campaign that the gold smuggling case was a farce one.

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