THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The NIA is continuing an investigation in the gold smuggling case. Senior officials of the NIA are grilling M Sivasankar, former principal secretary to the chief minister, today also. He was questioned yesterday by a team led by NIA’s southern chief K B Vandana. Hints obtained mentioned that he was not able to give accurate answers to many questions. The NIA is also investigating the involvement of terrorist organizations in the smuggling case.

NIA official K B Vandana questioning Sivasankar was also a private secretary of a minister. Vandana, a native of Tamil Nadu was the private secretary of Union Minister of State for Finance Arjun Ram Meghwal. Therefore, she knows exactly how an office of the chief minister and terrorist organizations function.

Vandana is an IPS officer of 2004 batch, Rajasthan cadre. She is one of the few women IPS officers to have successfully completed anti-terrorism training at American Intelligence Training Academy in North Carolina.

The intelligence had obtained information that Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has a role in the gold smuggled to Kerala.