india

Updated: Apr 25, 2019 13:43 IST

The Enforcement Directorate Wednesday attached assets worth Rs 40.34 crore of a private granite firm, in which expelled Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam eader MK Alagiri’s son Durai Dhayanidhi is a director, according to an ED official.

The action was taken against the firm, Olympus Granite Private Limited, under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The company was allegedly involved in illegal granite mining business, the ED official said asking not to be named.

“Durai Dhayanidhi is the director of a granite firm which is functioning at Keela Valavu at Madurai. The private limited firm is also having its office in Chennai. Therefore 25 movable and immovable assets of the granite firm were attached by the ED. The action has been initiated with an FIR and charge sheet filed by Tamil Nadu police against Durai and other directors of the company,” the official said.

The ED official claimed the directors, promoters and shareholders, including Durai and one more person, Nagaraj “have indulged in illegal mining activities in the land leased by Tamil Nadu Minerals Limited (TAMIN)”. “Olympus Granites Private Limited and the other accused persons had committed a scheduled offence and derived proceeds of crime by indulging in the illegal quarrying and the funds were camouflaged as business income,” the agency said in a statement.

“With the illegal usage, it led to a wrongful loss for the government and wrongful gain for Durai’s granite firm,” the statement read.

Known as a film producer and distributor, Durai Dhayanidhi had produced a number of films between 2006 and 2011, when the DMK ruled the state.

His father Alagiri was DMK’s southern region secretary and served as a Union minister from 2009 to 2014. However, in 2014, then DMK chief and his father, M Karunanidhi, expelled him from the party after he repeatedly targeted DMK leaders and his brother MK Stalin over selection of candidates for 2014 Lok Sabha polls.

Neither Durai Dhayanidhi nor his father Alagiri responded to calls or messages from HT.