5 Tamil Nadu district collectors appear before ED, comply with SC direction
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials are questioning five district collectors of Tamil Nadu in a case related to illegal sand mining.
The district collectors of Vellore, Tiruchirappalli, Karur, Thanjavur and Ariyalur are being questioned at the ED office in Chennai.
The Supreme Court had on February 28, 2024, directed five district collectors of Tamil Nadu to appear before the ED in connection with the ongoing money laundering probe carried out by the agency.
Earlier, in September 2023, the ED conducted raids at multiple locations during, including sand mining areas and sand stockyards. During the raids, ED had unearthed fake bills and counterfeit QR codes. These documents have revealed that this was for subverting payment of GST leading to heavy losses for the state and Central governments.
The ED also conducted raids at the premises of certain business persons. It said in a statement that it had provisionally attached assets valued at Rs.130.60 crore, including movable assets worth Rs.128.34 crore, and consists of 209 sand excavators.
The division bench of the Supreme Court comprising Justices Bela M Trivedi and Pankaj Mithal had termed the plea of Tamil Nadu state and its officials as strange and unusual.
The Supreme Court bench stayed the Madras High Court order, granting relief to the five district collectors. The state government and five district collectors moved the Madras High Court that stayed the ED summons, asking the collectors to appear before it.
ED had earlier informed Madras High Court that the total value of illegal excess sand mining done from the five districts in one or two years was around Rs.4,760 crore while the revenue shown officially was Rs.36.45 crore.
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