Thiruvananthapuram, July 15 (TIWN) Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Tuesday ruled out the suspension, at this point, of IAS officer and his former Secretary M. Sivasankar who presented himself before top Customs officials earlier in the day for questioning over his links with gold scam accused Swapna Suresh.

Responding to questions from the media on the issue, he said: “There are rules and procedures to be followed for it. Let us now wait for the ongoing events and we have also appointed a two member committee headed by the Chief Secretary after reports have come that he (Sivasankar) was in touch with the controversial woman (Swapna Suresh) on phone. At the moment, there are no grounds to suspend him.”

A three-member team of Customs officials had gone to Sivasankar’s house in the afternoon to serve notice upon him. Sivasankar, present at the house, said he was ready to appear before the officials during the day itself.

Swapna, a former employee of the UAE Consulate, here, is among the four booked by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) for allegedly facilitating smuggling of 30 kg gold in diplomatic baggage to Thiruvananthapuram from Dubai on July 5.