DVAC registers Duraimurugan in illegal sand mining case

Former minister Duraimurugan. | Photo credit: C. VENKATACHALAPATHY

The Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) has registered a case against DMK general secretary and former minister Duraimuruga and others in the alleged multi-crore illegal sand mining.

After prima facie evidence was established in a detailed investigation into the complaints filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and two others, the DVAC named Mr. Duraimurugan, the then Water Resources Minister (WRD), as the first accused, apart from the then Chief Engineers A. Muthaiya and Ramamoorthi, private 14 officers/officials of the WRD.

The complainants alleged that between 2021 and 2024, there was corruption and malpractice in the mining of river sand in 28 quarries in Tamil Nadu. Contracts were awarded through restricted tendering instead of open tendering. Sand was mined in excess of the permitted amount and fake vouchers called “Allowances” were created and used as genuine ones to facilitate the transportation of sand.

DVAC said in a statement that irregularities when assessed at four of the 28 river sand mining sites revealed a loss of ₹1,427 crore to the exchequer. Several teams searched 34 locations in the state as part of the investigation and 825 incriminating documents, 11 electronic devices and three bank locker keys were recovered.

ED letter

The DVAC case comes more than two years after the ED sent a letter to the Tamil Nadu government notifying it of an alleged fraud of ₹4,730 crore in illegal sand mining. The central agency, while investigating allegations of money laundering related to illegal sand mining in the state, has found serious irregularities in the process of mining and sale of river sand. Experts from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur and other central agencies have been called in to assess the extent of illegally mined sand. A huge amount of sand was found to be mined illegally.

The ED shared the information gathered during the investigation with the then Director General of Police and the Head of the Police Force in accordance with the statutory duty under Section 66(2) of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act 2002, which mandated the central agency to share this information with other law enforcement agencies.

The ED claimed that the total value of illegally mined sand during the review period may have been ₹4,730 crore, while the revenue shown in the officials’ records was only ₹36.45 crore. The agency has provisionally attached assets worth ₹136.6 crore, including movable property worth ₹128.34 crore, which includes 209 sand diggers deployed in illegal sand mining. Deposits of ₹2.25 crore in bank accounts belonging to the contractors – Shanmugham Ramachandran and Karuppaiah Rethinam – and other accused persons were frozen under the provisions of PMLA, 2002.

Report to HC

In a report submitted to the Madras High Court, the ED said it had credible scientific evidence based on a technical study of all the mining sites using drones and light detection and measurement (LIDAR) surveys, bathymetric surveys, satellite image processing, etc., which showed that rampant illegal sand mining was taking place in the jurisdiction of various district collectors.

DVAC teams conducted simultaneous searches at the residences of several serving and former government officials and some contractors and businessmen in Tiruchi and Pudukottai districts early on Friday in connection with the case.

In Tiruchi, the teams conducted searches at the residences of the WRD Assistant Engineer and the Executive Engineer of Mines and Monitoring Division at Khajamalai. A search was also conducted at the residence of the former engineer of the public works department at Manapparai. In Pudukottai district, one of the teams conducted a search at the headquarters of a sand mining contractor in Muthupattinam village. The team started the search around 8:30 am and it continued for several hours.

The searches were conducted at the premises of two partners of a private infrastructure firm in the city and at the businessman’s premises in Embal and Thiruvakudi, police sources added.

(With inputs from R. Rajaram in Tiruchi)

Published – November 6, 2026 12:13 PM IST