IAS officer M Sivasankar removed from IT secretary post

Kerala government on Tuesday removed IAS officer M Sivasankar from the post of IT secretary.

The government said that Mohammed Y. Safirulla will be the new IT secretary.

Earlier in the day, he was also removed from the post of Principal Secretary of Chief Minister after the Opposition allegation over alleged nexus between Kerala Chief Minister's Office with Swapna Suresh, a suspect in the gold smuggling case.

On Sunday, thirty kilograms of gold concealed in diplomatic baggage was seized at the Thiruvananthapuram international airport here by the customs department.

The customs sources said Swapna is on the run while Sarith Kumar, a former consulate PRO, was taken into custody and after the interrogation, his arrest was recorded.

Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala has alleged that Swapna was working in the IT department under the Government of Kerala and demanded a CBI probe in the matter.

BJP state president K Surendran also alleged that the first call to protect Swapna was from the Chief minister's Office.

( With inputs from ANI )