Tamil Nadu
TN: Annamalai Questions DMK Govt For Moving Madras HC Against ED Summons To District Collectors As Part Of Probe Into Illegal Sand Mining
Annamalai asked why was the DMK government blocking civil servants from appearing before the ED
The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) government has moved the Madras High Court against the summons issued by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to District Collectors as part of its ongoing probe into illegal sand mining in the state.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter), NDTV's Arvind Gunasekar wrote,"Tamil Nadu Government moves Madras HC against ED over summons to District Collectors in sand mining money laundering case, Govt contends summons are “ex facie without jurisdiction” as Mines and Minerals Act is not a scheduled offence under PMLA and the agency is “conducting a roving enquiry to harass State authorities to hinder administration and functioning of the State”.
Responding to the post, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) state president K Annamalai wrote, "The ones who have a lot to hide have many reasons to be panicked: the jittery move of the Corrupt DMK Govt only insinuates the deep rot created by DMK to exploit the resources of our State.
"Why is the DMK Govt trying to block a Civil Servant from appearing before the ED for questioning related to Sand Mining Money Laundering charges?
"Does the Corrupt DMK Govt fear that the agency will expose the wilful loss created by them for personal gains?"
This comes days after the ED questioned the engineer in chief A Muthaiya and other engineers of the Water Resources department, which oversees sand mining in the state.
The ED has also summoned DMK MP Kathir Anand, who is the son of Water Resources minister Duraimurugan, in connection with a case related to cash seized during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
In a statement issued after the statewide raids at sand mining sites, the ED said, "During the search incriminating documents including diaries, bogus fake sale receipts with counterfeit QR code were found suggestive of illegal sand sales. Evidences of bogus transactions, benami companies were found. During the search, Rs. 12.82 Crore was put under freeze and unaccounted cash for Rs. 2.33 Crore was seized along with gold weighing 1024.6 grams worth Rs 56.86 Lakh."
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