CHENNAI: As part of the ongoing investigation into allegations of serious irregularities and malpractices in the mining and sale of river sand in Tamil Nadu, the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) has now summoned as many as 10 district collectors in the State for interrogation.

The Collectors are expected to present themselves before the investigators in the coming days.

The all-powerful central agency had been summoning and grilling contractors and collecting details about 25 sand quarries spread over various districts in the State.

The ED sleuths had already grilled engineers of the Water Resources Department (WRD) to collect details of the procedure and sale of sand illegally mined and the officials had reportedly pointed fingers at the district collectors. As far as sand mining is concerned, district collectors are the highest authority in the districts.

ED had already conducted surprise checks at various sand quarry sites on September 12 this year and seized CCTV data storage devices, computer hard discs and incriminating documents including fake receipts and counterfeit QR codes. The agency has already written to the Water Resources Department, which controls and supervises sand mining and sale, seeking details.