Chennai, Sept 27:
The Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) on Sunday registered a fresh case against former Highways Minister and senior DMK leader E V Velu following a complaint alleging illegal sand mining from Malappampadi lake in his native Tiruvannamalai district of Tamil Nadu.
The anti-corruption crusader Arappor Iyakkam in yet another complaint claimed that, soil worth about Rs 8 crore was illegally mined from Malappampadi lake. The organisation had approached the DVAC on August 13, alleging that soil was excavated from the lake for the purpose of levelling a venue used for a DMK North Zone Youth Wing conference coordinated by the DMK strongman.
Following the complaint, the DVAC booked the ex-Minister and his son E.V.Kumaran in this case.
The Anti-Corruption agency had already registered a corruption case against Velu, his son, and several Highway department officials over alleged multi-crore irregularities in road construction contracts on a 2022 complaint from the Arappor Iyakkam Convenor Jayaram Venkatesan, alleging that funds worth crores were disbursed for unexecuted road works under the Comprehensive Road Infrastructure Development Programme (CRIDP) in districts like Tiruppur, Karur, and Kancheepuram.