Panchayat president among two arrested for mining river sand near Pudukottai

TRICHY: The Thirumayam police in Pudukottai district arrested a 43-year-old man for illegally mining river sand on Tuesday. While the man escaped from police custody hours after his arrest, police secured him along with the president of Ayingudi panchayat, who aided him in escaping from custody.
Following a tip-off, Pudukottai district superintendent of police L Balaji Saravanan sent a team led by Ponnamaravathi deputy superintendent of police V Sengamalakannan to Kadiyapatti where illegal sanding mining was said to be taking place.The team arrested R Venkatesh and seized a mini truck for illegally mining sand from the Selvamani river. While he was handed over to the Thirumayam police for further investigation, Venkatesh escaped from police custody in a car.
Police chased the car and intercepted it near Thirumayam bus stand. But Venkatesh escaped on a motorcycle from the spot. He was later arrested from his home in Kadiyapatti.
Sengamalakannan said that Rajamanickam, 49, president of Ayingudi panchayat, was arrested for helping Venkatesh escape in the car. Rajamanickam’s brother-in-law, Shanmugaraj, who owns the seized mini truck, is absconding. Cases have been registered under sections 379 (theft) and 353 (assault or criminal force) of the IPC besides Section 21(1) of the Mining Act. Further investigations were on.