Union Chemicals Minister M K Alagiri’s son Durai Dayanidhi who was on the run in the illegal granite mining case for four months, finally managed to get anticipatory bail from the Madras High Court (Madurai Bench) on Monday.
Justice C T Selvam, who granted him bail, quashed a non-bailable arrest warrant issued against him by the lower court in October.
The judge directed Durai Dayanidhi to surrender his passport at the Judicial Magistrate Court in Melur and appear before the Keezhavalavur police station near Melur daily until further orders.
Besides, he was asked to produce a personal surety of Rs 10,000.
Durai Dayanidhi and nine others were facing charges that firms owned by them had mined sand and granite without permission.
On a complaint from the VAO, the police had charged Durai Dayanidhi and Nagarajan, partners in Olympus Granites Pvt Ltd, for allegedly encroaching on adjacent government land and taking away large quantity of granite illegally without quarrying in the permitted area and causing a loss of Rs 44 crore to the Government by illegal quarrying.
Cases had been registered under various IPC sections including 120(b) (criminal conspiracy), 447 (criminal trespass) and 420 (cheating) against them.
Ever since an FIR was registered against Durai Dayanidhi, former partner of Olympus Granites Pvt Ltd in the illegal granite quarrying case on August 5, police had made a futile bid to arrest him. They were unable to learn about his whereabouts despite questioning his close family members including wife and friends.
The police had even issued a lookout notice for him all airports in the country but to no avail. Since then Durai Dayanidhi had unsuccessfully filed one bail application after another in different courts.