A special court of Kerala on Thursday extended by six days the Enforcement Directorate’s custody of M Sivasankar, former principal secretary to the Chief Minister, arrested by it final week in reference to the alleged cash laundering within the Kerala gold smuggling case.

The Enforcement Directorate moved an application in the Special Court of Prevention of Money Laundering Act here, seeking seven more days custody of Sivasankar to investigate details of communication between him and Swapna Suresh, the prime accused in the sensational gold smuggling case, as he was produced before it after the seven-day custody granted to the agency last week ended on Thursday.

The Enforcement Directorate, probing the money trail in the gold smuggling case, has alleged a number of offenses against Sivasankar. The National Investigation Agency, Customs and the ED are conducting separate investigations into the seizure of gold worth nearly Rs 15 crore from a "diplomatic baggage" of UAE Consulate at Thiruvananthapuram airport on July 5.

The ED has alleged that Sivasankar had intervened to clear the diplomatic baggage containing smuggled gold without examination by the Customs at the Thiruvananthapuram international airport.

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