Madurai rural district police registered seven fresh illegal granite quarrying cases and arrested five persons on Saturday night.
The arrested are P.L. Padikasu of Sivaganga, K.N. Solairajan, C.G. Mohan, Nagoor Haneefa and Jayaraman. On Sunday, they were produced before a court here, which remanded them in judicial custody.
Superintendent of Police Vijayendra Bidari said while some of the cases had been registered based on the survey of quarries for violations in the past, others were based fresh complaints lodged by village administrative officers of the respective villages.
“All the cases pertain to illegal quarrying by the operators on poromboke lands around their quarry sites legally permitted by the government,” he noted.
The District Crime Branch police registered the cases for criminal trespass, theft of minerals, breach of trust, cheating and under the provisions of the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulations) Act, 1957.
The police also invoked the provisions of the Tamil Nadu Public Property (Prevention of Damages and Loss) Act and the Explosives Substances Act. The granite quarries were located in Tiruchunai, E. Malampatti and Keezhavalavu in Melur taluk and Eravarapatti in Usilampatti taluk.
After registering the cases, special police teams raided the houses of the quarry operators and arrested them.
The police are on the lookout for some more persons.
A police officer said out of the 90 cases registered in the past, charge sheets had been filed in 17 cases.
