Income Tax Department officials conducted surprise check in the properties of a middleman supplying passes to quarry owners for taking minerals to various destinations in lorries and reportedly seized a few documents.
Following tip-off, a team of IT officials checked on Monday night the passes given for taking minerals in lorries from Thoothukudi, Tirunelveli and Kanniyakumari districtd to Kerala via Kaliyakkavilai. Of this, 67 passes given for taking the minerals to the neighbouring State were found to be fake.
The IT officials also checked the records of Department of Mines on Tirunelveli district Collectorate on Tuesday to confirm their suspicion that if the 67 passes were fake indeed. The IT officials’ inspection in the Department of Mines proved that the 67 passes were fake.
Sources in the Department of Mines said the passes for taking minerals from the quarries in Tirunelveli district would be given on Tuesdays and Fridays by the officials directly to the quarry owners after they pay the fee.
“While the officials directly issued these permits till 2021, this procedure was changed for no reason in 2021, wherein the officials were ordered to give the passes to a middleman, who would distribute the same to the quarry owners. You can now infer the transaction between the middleman and the quarry owners for getting the passes for taking the minerals to various destinations,” explained the sources.
As the IT officials identified the middleman, they searched his houses in Palayamkottai on Tuesday and reportedly seized a few incriminating documents.
“This all-powerful middleman in the mining industry is the conduit between the people in power in Department of Mines in Chennai and the quarry owners of the southern disrticts. It is learnt that this middleman is playing pivotal role is bearing a portion of the election expenses of a candidate in the Parliamentary election in Tirunelveli constituency. Hence, the IT raid in his properties carries more significance,” said the sources in the Department of Mining.
