Kerala CM's close aide asked to appear before ED on Nov 27

Thiruuvananthapuram: The Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday directed CM Ravindran, the additional private secretary to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, to appear at its Kochi office on Friday.

Ravindran is a CPI-M nominee. And Vijayan has acknowledged recently that Ravindran is known to him for several years.

This is for the second time the ED serves notice to Ravindaran. When he was first summoned earlier this month, Ravindran tested positive for Covid and could not appear before the ED.

The notice was served as gold smuggling case prime accused Swapna Suresh's alleged links with Ravindran surfaced.

Soon after Vijayan's Principal Secretary and senior IAS official M Sivasankar was arrested last month by the ED, reports had surfaced that the next person on the ED radar would be Ravindran.

Ravindran was on the personal staff of Balakrishnan in 2006-11, when he was the Home Minister in VS Achuthanandan government. When Vijayan took over as Chief Minister in 2016, Ravindran wielded major clout.

IANS report with edits