Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa today said her Government was taking steps for the “early conviction of culprits” in the illegal granite quarrying scam, in which Union Minister M.K. Alagiri’s son Durai Dayanidhi is an accused.
The Chief Minister, whose Government had acted against land grabbing complaints which saw many Opposition DMK leaders including former Ministers being arrested, said over Rs 830 crore worth of land had been returned to the rightful owners during her 19-month rule.
“I am happy to inform you that so far 1,627 cases have been registered and properties worth Rs 835.94 crore have been returned to the rightful owners,” she said in her inaugural address at the Conference of District Collectors and Police Officers here.
Jayalalithaa also promised proper action in the illegal granite quarrying case, in which connection Dayanidhi was given anticipatory bail last week.
“In a similar fashion, granite valued at Rs 4,000 crore, that was found to have been illegally mined is being confiscated. Further, in cases where granite was mined and sold off illegally, action is being pursued for attachment of properties equivalent to about Rs 9,783 crore and for securing an early conviction for the culprits,” she said.
The granite scam came to light following a report by former Madurai District Collector U. Sagayam who submitted a report to the Government stating that illegal quarrying had cost the exchequer over Rs 16,000 crore loss.
Dayanidhi and 14 others got bail in the scam, in which owners of various granite firms, including Olympus Granites in which he is a partner, had been named as accused.
Jayalalithaa said the police administration had been “freed from interference,” making it possible for them to unearth “many other cases of crime of a grave nature.”