TIRUNELVELI: Residents of Anainthanadarpatti village situated near Ambasamudram sent a petition to the Chief Minister's Special Cell and Inspector General (South Zone) Asra Garg on Monday demanding action against the Pappakudi police personnel, who are allegedly trying to absolve an unauthorised crusher unit's proprietor from an M-sand smuggling case.
In a petition undersigned by them, the villagers said the police are hand in glove with the proprietor of the crusher unit that was shut down by Cheranmahadevi Sub-Collector C A Rishab owing to various violations. "In spite of the sub-collector's order, the crusher authorities smuggled M-sand from the closed unit using huge trucks.
At 1.30 am on September 29, we waylaid one of such trucks laden with m-sand and handed it over to Pappakudi police Sub-Inspector Balasubramanian, right in front of the crusher unit. However, in their FIR, the police mentioned that they themselves seized the truck in some other location at 5.30 am during a vehicle check. With this, the police have ensured that the crusher unit authorities' names do not appear in the FIR," the residents said.
"The value of the smuggled minerals was mentioned as `4,200 in FIR as against `12,954, which was clearly mentioned in the crusher's invoice note. As per this invoice, the 16-wheeled truck contained 49 tonnes of minerals, which is in violation of road rules. However, the police have not added sections concerning overloading in the FIR," the petition further read.
The petitioners have also sent video footage of the truck seizure to the Chief Minister and IG along with their petition. When contacted by TNIE, Deputy Superintendent of Police L Francis said he would look into the matter. "Neither villagers nor the revenue officials have visited the Pappakudi police station so far to file a complaint against the crusher unit," he added.