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Madras high court stays ED summons to 3 contractors in sand mining case
The three private contractors, A Rajkumar, Shanmugam Ramachandran and K Rethinam had petitioned the high court, challenging the summons issued by ED
CHENNAI: The Madras high court on Friday stayed the summons issued by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to three private contractors in its ongoing investigation into money laundering in connection with illegal sand mining in Tamil Nadu.
The bench of justices SS Sundar and Sunder Mohan have granted an interim stay of operation of the summons, ED’s special public prosecutor N Ramesh said.
The three private contractors, A Rajkumar, Shanmugam Ramachandran and K Rethinam had petitioned the high court, challenging the summons issued by ED under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
The petitions reasoned that they were summoned though they were not named in the ECIR (Enforcement Case Information Report) filed by the ED last September or in any of the criminal cases registered by the state police.
They also reasoned that the summons issued in December did not specify if they were to be questioned as suspects or witnesses. ED said that since the investigation was in an early stage, the three petitioners must cooperate with the federal agency.
The contractors had also cited the high court’s stay granted on the ED summons issued to five district collectors of Ariyalur, Karur, Thanjavur, Trichy and Vellore in connection with the sand mining case. The Tamil Nadu government had approached the high court to seek quashing of the summons on the ground that it was without jurisdiction, unreasonable and in violation of law.
ED launched an investigation into money laundering linked to illegal sand mining in the state in September last year following allegations that the illegal sand mining in the state over the last two years was estimated to be ₹4,730 crore as compared to the state’s recorded revenue of ₹36 crore.
