ED Raids Underway In Over 40 Locations Across Tamil Nadu In Crackdown On Sand Mafia

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) is conducting raids across the state as part of a probe into allegations of money laundering and tax evasion in sand mining.

According to a report by The Hindu, while sand is sold online by the Water Resources department and an e-receipt is provided at the sand mining depots there have been allegations that sand is also sold offline and it is not shown in the records.

Another aspect of the probe could be to check if the taxes charged on amounts mentioned in e-bills were deposited with the government, stated the report.

Among those being raided include people involved in sand mining named Karikalan, Ravi, Rathinam, Govindaraj, Executive Engineers Podhupani Thilagam and Muthusamy and Shanmugaraj, an auditor, political commentator Savukku Shankar posted on X (formerly Twitter).

The ED had earlier raided Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) Higher Education minister K Ponmudy and his son P Gautham Sigamani in connection with laundering money obtained from illegally mining excess red sand.

Also Read: Tamil Nadu: In More Trouble For DMK Minister K Ponmudy, ED Files Chargesheet Against His Son Gautham Sigamani In Red Sand Quarrying Case