A Kerala court on Wednesday granted bail to former secretary in the chief minister’s office, M. Sivasankar, in a dollar smuggling case.
The court of additional chief judicial magistrate (economic offences) in Ernakulam granted bail on the condition that he would not try to influence witnesses or the investigation.
He was also ordered to execute two bonds of Rs 1 lakh each with two solvent sureties.
Sivasankar was later released from the Ernakulam district prison and taken to his native Thiruvananthapuram, ending the 98-day incarceration.
The same court had on January 25 granted him bail in a case registered by the customs department in which he was among the accused. On the same day Kerala High Court had granted him bail in a money-laundering case linked to the gold smuggling.
The 57-year-old IAS officer was arrested in October 2020 after his name emerged during the interrogation of prime accused Swapna Suresh, P.S. Sarith and Ramees who were among the first to be held.
