Pinarayi Vijayan's additional private secretary Raveendran tests COVID positive
Nov 05, 2020
Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala) [India], November 6 : Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's Additional Private Secretary CM Raveendran, who was summoned by Enforcement Directorate (ED), in connection with gold smuggling probe to the Kochi office has been diagnosed with COVID-19.
As he tested COVID positive he would not be appearing before ED tomorrow.
A close confidant of Vijayan, Raveendran was summoned by ED after recording the statements of Swapna Suresh and M Sivasankar, former principal secretary of Kerala CM in connection with gold smuggling case.
Under ED scanner are also the alleged irregularities relating to various projects of the IT Department, that the ED found during the course of the investigation. Sivasankar was also serving as the IT Secretary before he was removed from the post after the gold smuggling case.
It is learned that the ED based on digital records retrieved from the phones of gold smuggling accused Swapna Suresh and Sivasankar had summoned Raveendran to seek clarification on certain deals inked by Kerala IT Department, which ED believes kickback was paid by the respective private players engaged by Government for the project.
The Enforcement Directorate had issued a notice to him to appear at the Kochi office on Friday.
