Illegal sand mining in Tamil Nadu: Madras high court stays ED summonses to three private contractors

CHENNAI: The Madras high court on Friday stayed the operation of summonses issued by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to three private contractors in connection with an illegal sand mining case.

A division bench of Justice S S Sundar and Justice Sunder Mohan granted the relief on pleas moved by contractors A Rajkumar, Shanmugam Ramachandran and K Rethinam challenging the summonses issued under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

Representing the petitioners, advocate S Elambharathi contended that the petitioners were in no way connected to the four FIRs based on which the ED registered ECIR and launched the investigation.

The summonses dated December 11, 2023 were vague and did not disclose the purpose as to whether they were summoned as witnesses or accused, he said.

“The issuance of summons was not only a gross and blatant abuse of process of law but also an infringement of the petitioners’ fundamental rights guaranteed under the Constitution,” he said.

Opposing the pleas, additional solicitor general A R L Sundaresan submitted that the petitioners were summoned to get certain clarifications in connection with the case and the ED could not state at present whether they were accused or witnesses.