NEW DELHI: Two including the personal assistant of Shashi Tharoor MP were arrested in a gold smuggling case. Tharoor’s personal assistant identified as Sivakumar Prasad was arrested from Delhi International Airport. The incident happened Wednesday evening. The customs officials seized 500 grams of gold from his hand. Sivakumar was in the Delhi Airport to receive a passenger who came from Dubai.

Tharoor came forward reacting to the incident on social media. He said that Sivakumar was his former staff. As Sivakumar was undergoing dialysis and due to humanitarian consideration, he was maintained as a part-time staff. He was only rendering him part time services in terms of airport facilitation assistance. Tharoor penned that law must take its own course and will give all support to the investigation team.

While I am in Dharamshala for campaigning purposes, I was shocked to hear of an incident involving a former member of my staff who has been rendering part-time service to me in terms of airport facilitation assistance. He is a 72 year old retiree undergoing frequent dialysis and…

— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) May 30, 2024

Meantime, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, the BJP candidate from Thiruvananthapuram constituency, has also reacted to the incident. He responded that first the principal secretary of the Kerala Chief Minister was arrested and now the aide of the Congress MP was arrested. He added that India's alliance leaders are also involved in the gold smuggling.