THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: CM's Additional Private Secretary CM Raveendran has been admitted to hospital again. The ED team probing the gold smuggling case had handed over a notice to Raveendran to appear for questioning on Friday. Raveendran had earlier sought treatment at a hospital due to Covid infection. However, the ED issued a second notice to Raveendran, after a week's rest following recovery from the viral infection. It is learned that Raveendran was admitted to the hospital again due to ill health even after recovering from Covid.

The ED is preparing to question Raveendran also on the basis of the statement of Swapna Suresh, the accused in the gold smuggling case.

Shiv Shankar was arrested by the ED under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. The probe team had also found that an accused in the gold smuggling case had laundered the money of Swapna Suresh. Sivasankar's arrest had put the government and the CPM on the backfoot. The ED's notice was issued to the Additional Private Secretary to the Chief Minister on the back of this. With the local body elections looming, the probe team's actions have become a further setback for the CPM.