Kochi: Suspended IAS officer M Sivasankar is being questioned by National Investigation Agency (NIA) officials for the second time in connection with the ongoing probe into the gold smuggling case, sources said on Monday.
Sivasankar was summoned to appear before the probe team at the investigating agency's office in Kochi.
He was questioned for five hours by an NIA team on July 23 at the Peroorkada Police Club in Thiruvananthapuram.
After his close links with some of the suspects in the gold smuggling case surfaced, Sivasankar was removed as IT secretary and principal secretary to chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan. He as then suspended from service.
The senior bureaucrat was also questioned by Customs, which is also probing the case, for nearly nine hours on July 15.
Alegations surfaced against Sivasankar that he had links with a woman who is a suspect in the case relating to the smuggling of gold in diplomatic baggage using the name of a person in the UAE consulate in Thiruvananthapuram.
Customs seized gold weighing over 30 kg and valued at around Rs 15 crore on July 5.
The NIA , which has been entrusted with the probe, has booked four suspcts -- Sarith, Swapna Suresh, Sandeep Nair and Faizal Fareed -- under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
