Tamil Nadu’s CB-CID, which is probing the murder of whistleblower Jagaber Ali, has sought the ‘action-taken’ reports on the complaints filed by the late activist. The Department of Geology and Mining and the Revenue department are to submit their reports to the investigating agency.
Jagaber Ali, 58, was run over by a lorry on January 17 at Vengalur in Pudukottai district. Initially, his death was believed to be an accident. However, following a complaint by Ali’s wife, the police reclassified the case as a murder, leading to the arrest of five individuals – R Rasu, the owner of RR Sand Crushers quarry, Ramaiya S, the quarry’s co-owner, Muruganandhan, Kasinathan, and R Dinesh Kumar. The case was later transferred to the CB-CID for further investigation.
Jagaber Ali had submitted various complaints and petitions to authorities including the Tahsildar of Thirumayum Taluk office, the collector’s office, the Revenue Divisional Officer, and to the Department of Geology and Mining among others regarding the illegal stone quarrying in Pudukottai.
TNM had earlier reported that Jagaber Ali had submitted detailed complaints that ran into pages with meticulously documented proof alleging five companies – RR Crushers, Saint Arockya Mary Crusher, Eashwar Enterprises, RR M Sand Unit-1 and RR M Sand Unit-2 – were involved in illegal stone quarrying for a year without valid licence.
Before his untimely death, Ali had accused the local Tahsildar of Thirumayum Taluk of leaking copies of his complaints to the mining mafia.