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    Granite scam: 3,186-page charge sheet filed before JM Court

    In the granite scam concerning PR Palanichamy, proprietor of PRP Granites, the District Crime Branch police along with Special Public Prosecutor R Sheela filed a charge sheet before the Melur Judicial Magistrate K Palanivel in Madurai district on Wednesday.

    Granite scam: 3,186-page charge sheet filed before JM Court
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    Madurai

    The police filed the charge sheet running to 3,186 pages citing that large scale violations were done after indiscriminately mining granites on poromboke lands and water bodies near Keelavalavu village in Melur, all causing a whopping loss of Rs 5.5 billion.

    Since the illegal mining of granite was unearthed in August 2012, the police conducted investigations and registered 98 cases against licensed operators including PRP Granites, seized properties and cancelled the permits of quarries. Hence, a case was filed by police officials in the Madurai district. It was the 77th occasion since the scam came to fore and the charge sheet was filed against 37 persons including Palanichamy, a source said. 113 computer hard discs from the PRP company and property documents amounting to 5,429 were seized by the police. The seized hard discs were already submitted before the court, sources said.

    Years earlier, the High Court appointed Legal Commissioner U Sagayam, who was the former Madurai Collector, and launched a probe which lasted for about nine months to look into the multi-crore granite scam. In his report after the probe in 2012, Sagayam claimed that the illegal granite mining had caused loss of over Rs 16,000 crore to government exchequer, sources said.

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