The Customs department, Kerala,  has issued a fresh summons to Speaker’s assistant private secretary K Ayyappan for the interrogation in connection with dollar smuggling case. This time, the Customs has served the notice to the residential address of the official. Ayyappan has been asked to appear for the questioning on Friday. It is for the third time the Customs has summoned Ayyappan for the interrogation.

Ayyappan informed the Department through the mail that he cannot appear before it due to the busy schedule of the Kerala Assembly session beginning from Friday. This time, the notice was sent to his residential address. Earlier, when the customs sent a notice to his office address earlier, he failed to appear.

On Wednesday, Kerala Assembly Speaker's office issued a letter to the Customs Department stating that the Speaker's permission is required to interrogate his Assistant Private Secretary. The dollar smuggling came to light during the investigation of the Kerala gold smuggling case, which is currently being probed by the National Investigation Agency, the Enforcement Directorate, and the Customs department.

Customs has taken a stance that permission of the Speaker is not mandatory to interrogate his assistant private secretary. They noted that the notice was served as per the central government act and that rule 165 is not applicable to the Speaker’s personal staff.

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