CHENNAI: The Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday conducted searches at the residence of Panneerselvam Karikalan, a businessman allegedly involved in sand mining, at West CIT Nagar.
The searches went on until Wednesday evening. The ED had launched an investigation into losses caused to the exchequer due to illegal sand mining across the state. As part of the investigation, the ED had provisionally attached as many as 209 sand excavators worth Rs 128.34 crore.
The machines were suspected to have been used to mine sand beyond the permitted limits. Apart from the excavators, Rs 2.25 crore stashed in 35 bank accounts belonging to Shanmugam Ramachandran, Karuppaiah Rethinam, Panneerselvam Karikalan, and others, who were allegedly involved in unlawful sand mining activities in Tamil Nadu, were also attached under the provisions of Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, earlier this month.