Chennai: Tamil Nadu's Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) has registered a case against senior DMK leader and former water resources minister Durai Murugan and several others over alleged irregularities in river sand mining that caused an estimated loss of over Rs 1,427 crore to the state exchequer, officials said on Friday, The Hindu BusinessLine reported. India Today, via News89, also reported that Durai Murugan is among 27 people named in the case.

Source: The Hindu BusinessLine

The naming of the former minister is a major new development in a case readers have been following since Friday morning, when the DVAC searched 30 locations linked to quarry operators in the same investigation, based on an Enforcement Directorate (ED) probe into 28 sand quarries. The agency's fuller statement, reported on Saturday morning, now names the accused, quantifies the loss from a first set of quarries, and puts the total number of locations searched at 34.

27 named, including two retired engineers-in-chief

Alongside Durai Murugan, the case names retired Engineers-in-Chief A. Muthaiya and Ramamoorthi, 14 serving public servants from the Water Resources Department, and 10 private individuals and companies, according to the reports. The case was registered on complaints from the Enforcement Directorate (ED), Chennai, as well as S. Tamilselvan and Jayaram Venkatesan, convener of the anti-corruption NGO Arappor Iyakkam.

Rs 1,427.34 crorealleged wrongful loss found in a preliminary probe of just 4 of 28 quarries
34locations searched across Tamil Nadu and Puducherry
825documents seized, with 11 electronic devices and 3 bank locker keys
27people and firms named as accused

The complaints allege widespread corruption and irregularities between 2021 and 2024 in river sand mining operations across 28 quarries in Tamil Nadu, including tender violations, excess quarrying and fabricated transport permits. A preliminary probe into just four of the 28 quarries revealed a wrongful revenue loss of Rs 1,427,34,23,059 to the government, the agency said.

Source: News89 (India Today)

Following the registration of the case, vigilance officials carried out simultaneous searches at 34 locations in Chennai, Pudukkottai, Tiruchirappalli, Karur, Vellore, Madurai, Dindigul, Sivagangai, Coimbatore, Salem and Namakkal, and in neighbouring Puducherry, seizing 825 documents the DVAC described as incriminating, 11 electronic devices and three bank locker keys.

The DVAC said the investigation is ongoing. The allegations have not been tested in court, no guilt has been established, and the reports carried no immediate response from Durai Murugan or the DMK. Awaaz Punjab will update this story if a response is issued.