Granite scam: Alagiri's son Durai surrenders in court

Armed with an anticipatory bail order, Durai Dayanidhi, son  of Union Fertiliser Minister M K Alagiri, whose whereabouts were not known for over 140 days, finally made a public appearance on Friday.

He surrendered before a court in Melur near Madurai and formally obtained pre-arrest bail in one of the illegal granite mining cases.

Dayanidhi is the first political VIP to be charged in one of the 35 cases filed by the Tamil Nadu Police against various granite companies in the vicinity of Madurai, after investigation was ordered by the State on a report by the former District Collector, U Sagayam in July this year.

Sagayam found prima-facie material in several complaints of grave irregularities in granite mining by private companies that could be put as Rs16,000 crore scam. Anshul Mishra, the Madurai Collector who succeeded Sagayam, then directed detailed probe by the concerned Mining and Revenue Department into the scam.

Even as police had been intensifying their search with a warrant since October – after Dayanidhi and his associates were wanted in connection with a case against Olympus Granite. Alagiri’s son was said to be a director of the firm and continued give a slip to the men in uniform after the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court first rejected his bail plea in September-end.

Police then searched Durai’s premises in Madurai and Chennai, questioned friends and few officials once considered close to him, besides quizzing his wife.He was rumoured to have gone abroad. However, on December 10, the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court granted him and 14 of his associates’ anticipatory bail with strict conditions.

Dayanidhi had maintained that he had quit as Director from the Olympics Granite long ago and charged the AIADMK regime with pursuing a case for political reasons. His father and Union Minister Alagiri also declared his son’s “innocence”.

Dayanidhi reportedly flew into Madurai on Thursday night to appear before the Melur court on Friday. A big granite exporter already arrested in the case is P R Palanisamy of P R P Granites. He too has moved the court for bail. While granting anticipatory bail to Dayanidhi, the court said that he and the other accused should appear before the concerned court, surrender his passport, and also appear before the concerned investigating office daily.