CHENNAI: The Madras High Court on Friday granted an interim relief to contractors who were summoned by ED in the alleged illegal sand mining case and stayed the summons issued by the agency.
The ED had registered cases based on FIRs registered by the DVAC. The cases alleged that more than permitted amount of sand was mined and large scale money laundering took place in the income generated through contract in quarries.
The agency had earlier summoned several collectors to appear before the agency in the case. The state had moved the high court against the summons and an interim stay was granted by the court. The ED had also summoned Rajkumar, Shanmugam Ramachandran and Rathinam who are shareholders of a private company, RS Constructions. The three of them moved the high court against the summons issued by the agency.
The case came up before the bench of Justice SS Sundar and Justice Sundar Mohan. Petitioners contented that the summons were issued despite their names not appearing in the case registered by the ED. They also alleged that the case was registered in a hasty manner and prayed to quash the proceedings initiated against them.
Counsel for ED argued against quashing the summons. The agency said the case was in the preliminary stage and petitioners have to cooperate with the investigation. After submission by both parties, judgement was reserved by the high court. In the order delivered on Friday, the court granted an interim stay to the summons issued by the ED.
‘Postpone judgment in Rajesh Das case’
Chennai: The Madras High Court on Friday directed the Villupuram district court to postpone the judgment in the appeal filed by former special DGP Rajesh Das in a sexual harassment case against him. The high court issued directions to the district court since the transfer petition filed by Das is pending before it. Trial had convicted Das in the case for three years on June 16. The appeal was pending before the Villupuram district principal sessions court and judgment is likely to be delivered on January 6. Meanwhile, Das had moved the high court seeking transfer of the case from Villupuram. Since the transfer petition is pending before the high court, he had sought a stay on the judgment in the appeal filed by him.
Kodanad case: EPS told to appear on Jan 30
Chennai: The Madras High Court has directed opposition leader Edappadi K Palaniswami to appear before the master court on the high court premises on January 30 to record his statements in a defamation case filed by him. Palaniswami had filed a defamation suit against journalist Mathew Samuel, Cyan and Manoj in 2019 for making statements linking him with Kodanadu case. He had filed a petition before the high court to grant exemption from appearing to record his statements. Following an appeal filed by Mathew Samuel, the division bench of Justices R Mahadevan and Mohammed Shaffiq on Friday directed Palaniswami to appear before the master court on January 30 to give evidence.