Chennai:
Union minister MK Alagiri's son has been refused bail by the Madras High Court.
Durai Dayanidhi has been absconding for a month after a firm closely linked to him was declared guilty of illegal mining near the temple town of Madurai in Tamil Nadu. Airport officials have been warned to look out for him to prevent him from leaving the country.
His lawyers had applied for anticipatory bail, which was turned down today.
"A person's liberty cannot be denied in a false case. We are contemplating challenging this decision in the Supreme Court. We have not decided about his surrender yet." Veerakadiravan, Durai Dayanidhi's counsel, said.
Mr Dayanidhi's grand-father, M Karunanidhi, heads the DMK, which is a senior partner in the ruling coalition at the centre.
The former Collector of Madurai, U Sahayam, has submitted a report to the Tamil Nadu government alleging that many granite companies violated the terms of their mining licenses in the granite quarries near Madurai. He estimated a revenue loss of around 16,000 crores to the ex-chequer following which the district administration had raided all the 175 granite quarries in Madurai district for a survey to unravel violations, quantify illegal mining and estimate losses to the government.
Mr Dayanidhi, the state claims, is a partner in Olympus Granites. His lawyers argued that he had given up his position a few years ago. However, the police claim the irregularities were committed when he was the Director of the company.