It's not just human skeletons that are tumbling out of a granite baron's closet, but also a tale of environmental plunder

Dotted with huge granite slabs, Melur's once-agrarian skyline has changed. But behind the rows of white stones are stories so morbid they go beyond just assaults on environment. N Palanivel, 71, considers it a miracle that what he had witnessed one summer morning had not driven him insane. Brought forcibly from Karaikudi in neighbouring Sivaganga district, presumably to oversee the shifting of a family shrine, believed to be hundreds of years old, Palanivel had no clue he was about to witness a macabre ritual he had until then believed was just folklore.

At 10 am, sometime in the year 2002, a few men picked him up from a relative's house in Melur, 35 km from Madurai. The group proceeded in a vehicle to the midst of a granite quarry, where nestled a dilapidated shrine on a land strip. All three sides had been shaved off for quarrying. The stillness in the air was eerie and Palanivel, dressed in saffron veshti and shirt, began to feel the first stirrings of unease. He saw a bearded man in his mid-twenties, pinned to the ground by some men. He was to later allege that the gang which forced him to be part of the ritual was Palanichamy's henchmen. Within minutes, a man, presumably a 'poosari' (a tantric) had deftly sliced the throat of the man lying on the ground. "As blood gushed out of his neck, I was in a state of shock," Palanivel told TOI, now grazing goats in Ilupapatti village in Melur taluk. He was then made to smear the blood on a spear and a sword, the weapons of the Veerakali Amman (an incarnation of Durga), his family deity. They remain on a cement slab on the roadside near the quarry, a morbid reminder of the grisly ritual.

Recently, the retired army man's chilling narrative was recorded and submitted to district authorities. They join a bunch of bizarre complaints that accuse Pinna Palanichamy Thevar, who heads the PRP Group, a leading player in granite quarrying in the country, of conducting human sacrificial rituals to appease the gods to help his business flourish. Among them were also complaints of missing persons linked to human sacrifices. What caught national attention was the discovery of bucketfuls of skeletal remains, allegedly those of Palanichamy's victims - men, women and children, many of them mentally-challenged and destitute.

The skeletons literally tumbled out of Palanichamy's closet after Sevar Kotiyon, 39, who claimed to have worked as a driver for the PRP group from 1999 to 2003, submitted a petition to whistle-blower-IAS officer U Sagayam, appointed by the Madras high court to probe a massive granite scam in Madurai district. Sevar Kotiyon alleged that in the year 1999 he, too, had seen two bodies, with their throats slit, being transported for burial. He quit the service of the company in 2003-end and submitted a complaint to the police shortly after that. His police complaint was thrown into the bin, and the Supreme Court dismissed a special leave petition he filed a few years later, for lack of evidence.

But, Sagayam decided to take Sevar Kotiyon's petition forward. Amid high drama in the rural outreaches of Melur, ravaged by granite quarries, he ordered the exhumation of bodies at the spot Sevar Kotiyon claimed he had seen the two men being buried years ago. Eight skeletal remains were dug out from a pit near a dry water channel in E-Malampatti village. They were later handed over to the forensic science department of the Madurai Medical College. "We have despatched teams to trace missing persons during the period that the rituals allegedly took place. We are also talking to occult practitioners and poosaris . At this moment, I can't rule out anything," said Madurai superintendent of police Vijayendra S Bidari.

There is skepticism, however, in police circles as to whether the human sacrifice charges would stick. Admitted Madurai Medical College forensic medicine department head Dr G Natarajan, "It is difficult and near impossible to prove if these people had been murdered or died a natural death." His team would conduct DNA tests on the skeletal remains to fix identities. With no soft tissue left, it would be difficult to establish if they were victims of human sacrifice, he pointed out.

Dismissing the allegations of human sacrifice as rants of disgruntled persons, Palanichamy said, "They wanted money from me. I did not budge, so, they have concocted the bizarre story." He said Sevar Kotiyon had worked for his company for just three days.

But, trouble is in store for the 65-year-old granite baron, accused of amassing wealth by plundering natural resources. Over the last two decades, the PRP Group has managed to get the maximum number of granite quarry leases. Successive governments looked the other way as his quarries gobbled up acres of agricultural land, hillocks and irrigation channels. As protests among activists and villagers grew strident, Sagayam, who had then completed a short tenure as Madurai collector, submitted a 17-page report to the industries secretary in May 2012.

He accused the PRP Group and other firms, including one in which Durai Dhayanidhi, son of former Union minister M K Alagiri, had been a director, of ignoring norms, violating the Mines Act 1952 and smuggling high grade granite blocks out of the country. He assessed the loss to the state exchequer based on a preliminary survey to be Rs 16,000 crore. Activists said it was just the tip of the iceberg and alleged collusion among police, revenue and agriculture officers in the callous plundering.

Meanwhile, Sagayam is expected to wind up the probe on October 15 and hand over his report to the court which could possibly expose more corruption and uncover more skeletons. But, the big question remains: will the government act on his findings or give it a quiet burial?

PLUNDER OF MELUR

* 1,000 hectares were quarried illegally in Melur taluk, destroying many parcels of agricultural land, according to officials at the PWD department

* 55 water bodies, including channels, damaged by granite quarrying

* 175 granite quarrying leases granted to firms in Melur taluk, of which 56 leases, almost one-third, granted to PRP Group

* 3 hillocks disappeared while small portion of a British era hillock under ASI protections chipped away

Nara Bali, a deep-rooted belief in parts of Tamil Nadu

Villagers in Melur and surrounding areas swear by the 'great benefits' from human sacrifice. They say it's the greatest form of appeasement of deities. The ritual may include a yagam after which the victim's throat is sliced with a knife and the gushing blood offered to the deity, whose weapons and bodies are smeared with the bloody offering.

