Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) officials conducted extensive searches on the premises of S. Ramachandran and K. Rathinam — associates of sand baron Sekhar Reddy — on Saturday.
Both have already been arrested and remanded in judicial custody.
According to sources, the office of S. Ramachandran in Pudukottai town and his house in Muthupattinam were searched by officials. Ramachandran had a liquor shop in Muthupattinam village in 1996. A decade later, he obtained a licence for mining sand in a few places in the southern districts. Gradually, he began playing a bigger role in sand mining in the central region.
In Dindigul, the office and house of K. Rathinam, chief executive officer of the GTN College, were simultaneously searched. He was arrested in Chennai for exchanging a large number of old currency notes. The police said that Mr. Rathinam was helping Reddy in exchanging old notes in Dindigul. Managers of nationalised and private banks may also be questioned, they added. Rathinam, a retired surveyor from Athoor block in Dindigul district, was into real estate, hotel and sand businesses.
Rao hospitalised
Meanwhile, former chief secretary P. Rama Mohana Rao was admitted to a private hospital in Porur on Saturday. Hospital authorities stated that he had complained of chest pain and was placed under observation.
(Inputs from Sangeetha Kandavel in Chennai.)
