As the Enforcement Directorate continues interrogating Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s former Principal Secretary M Sivasankar, another problem looms over both the suspended IAS officer and the LDF government. Recent reports indicate that one of the mobile phones gifted by Unitac Managing Director Santhosh Eapen is in Sivasankar’s possession.
This new piece of information emerged after the ED received the mobile phone’s details from Sivasankar. The latter had submitted, in writing, the details of his two mobile numbers, including their IMEI number. After examining the details, the ED was able to connect one of the IMEI numbers to the details submitted by Santhosh to the High Court in the Life Mission case.
Unitac’s Santhosh Eapen had given six iPhones on top of the Rs 4.48 crore commissions to Swapna Suresh to get a contract for the Vadakkanchery Life Mission project. While the original accusation specified five mobiles, the invoice submitted to HC detailed six IMEI numbers. After ED submitted Sivasankar’s written statement, the IMEI numbers were compared and the relation was revealed.
A sixth iPhone, worth Rs 1.14 lakh is still missing, and investigative agencies are currently in pursuit of its owner
Sivasankar had been supervising the Life Mission project when he was a part of the CM’s office. While Santhosh Eapen had initially claimed no interaction with Sivasankar, the CBI will question the suspended IAS officer about the Life Mission scam based on the current information. Closer inspection reveals that the user of a sixth iPhone is still unknown. The phone is worth Rs 1.14 lakh and investigative agencies are trying to find the person.
Meanwhile, Santhosh’s original statement had triggered a political controversy, when the MD claimed that one of the phones was gifted to Opposition Leader Ramesh Chennithala. But later Santhosh Eapen has changed his statements after Chennithala filed a defamation case against him.
