In a bizarre incident, a former IAS officer from Tamil Nadu, U. Sagayam, has moved the Madras High Court for police security. He has filed a writ petition for it, saying he faces a threat from the granite mining mafia. Sagayam argues in his petition that he is unable to depose before the trial court without security, as he continues to face threats from the mafia. Sagayam had been provided police security in 2014, but it was later withdrawn.
The High Court has directed the state DGP to file his response by November 24.
In his petition, the bureaucrat claims that he antagonised the granite mafia after disclosing large scale irregularities in granite mining in the Madurai district with an estimated loss of around 16000 crores to the public exchequer when he was a collector there in 2012.
According to the affidavit he has filed in the court, the High Court had appointed him as a Special Officer in that case way back in 2014 for inspecting mining operations across the state and was thus provided with an armed security guard on the basis of a court direction. But his report unearthing large-scale irregularities opened a Pandora’s box of issues with the mafia baying for his blood.
He and his family members started getting threats and intimidation from the mafia, on the basis of which he got two FIRs registered in 2015. The High Court restored his police security, but it was withdrawn in November 2020. The court intervened to restore security to him. But the gunman was withdrawn on May 26, 2023, again.
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