The Supreme Court on Tuesday extended the interim bail granted to M Sivasankar, former Principal secretary to Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. M Sivasankar was arrested in connection with the LIFE Mission corruption case.
During the hearing, Sivasankar’s advocate submitted that though the previous order of the court directed that Sivasankar be taken to JIPMER Medical Hospital, Pondicherry for evaluating his medical condition, he could get into the hospital only on Monday. Consecutively, the Bench passed its order, extending the interim bail till next hearing.
In the recent case, M Sivasankar has approached the Supreme Court against the rejection of his bail plea by the Kerala High Court in April 2023. Later on August 2, 2023, s Supreme Court bench comprising Justice AS Bopanna and MM Sundresh had granted him interim bail on medical grounds for two months, taking into account that he had been advised spine surgery and would also require post operative treatment.
Notably, the interim relief was extended on September 25, 2023, November 29, 2023 and December 8, 2023. On Tuesday, a request was made before the top court to list the matter for final disposal.
Former Principal secretary to Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, M Sivasankar was arrested on February 14 in relation with an alleged violation of FCRA in LIFE mission, which is a flagship project of the Kerala government. The flagship project was conceived by the Kerala government to provide houses for the homeless in the southern state.
Later, the alleged Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Amendment Act, 2020 (FCRA) violation and corruption in the project had snowballed into a major political issue at the time with opposition parties accusing Swapna Suresh, the prime accused in the controversial gold smuggling case, of having admitted before an NIA court that she had received Rs 1 crore as commission for the project.