Enough evidence to proceed in granite quarrying case: HC

Madurai: Madras high court has dismissed a plea moved by three men seeking to quash the final report filed against them before the trial court in a case where granite was quarried illegally from government lands in Madurai district.The court was hearing the petition filed by P Periyasamy, P Babu alias

Krishnamoorthy

and

P Arun Raja

. Periyasamy, the first accused in the case, was granted lease in 2006 to quarry multi-colour granite over an extent of 1.25 hectares of patta land at Saruguvalayapatti village near

Melur

taluk in the district for 20 years. However, the petitioners along with others were involved in illegal quarrying of granite stones using explosives after trespassing into the adjacent government poramboke land.Based on the complaint of a village administrative officer,

Keelavalavu

police in 2012 registered a case against the petitioners and other people under various sections of IPC and Explosive Substances Act. After completing the investigation, police filed the final report before the Melur judicial magistrate court in 2016. Challenging the same, the petitioners filed the petition before HC Madurai bench in 2017.While the petitioners denied the allegations, police in their counter affidavit submitted that the petitioners were involved in illegal excavation of granite stones worth Rs 118.08 crore from the government land from 2007 to 2012.Justice

G Jayachandran

took note of the fact that apart from police investigation, a special team constituted by the government to evaluate the exploitation of granite in and around the Madurai district, had also assessed the extent of the illegal quarrying.The judge also took note of the state’s submission that the petitioners were involved in illegal quarrying for a long time and a substantial portion of the granite, which were illegally extracted, had already been exported to foreign countries. The statement of the auditors, income tax return and other documents are available in this regard.The judge observed that cumulative assessment of these documents and the evidence collected by the prosecution are sufficient to prosecute the petitioners for illegal extraction of minerals and causing unlawful loss to the government. There are prima facie materials to infer that exploitation of granite stones was done in other areas apart from the land for which the lease was granted. Observing that it is not a fit case to quash the proceedings without trial, the judge dismissed the petition.
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