THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Tuesday ruled out the suspension of IAS officer and his former Secretary M Sivasankar in connection with the gold smuggling case. Addressing the media, the Chief Minister said as of now, there are no grounds to prove that Sivasankar has involvement in the smuggling case.

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.