Can’t appear in court, facing life threat due to removal of security: ex-IAS officer Sagayam

Former IAS officer U. Sagayam flags threat to life, unable to appear in court for granite scam evidence.

Former IAS officer U. Sagayam — who exposed the massive granite scam in Tamil Nadu in 2014 as a special officer appointed by the Madras High Court — has flagged his inability to appear in a special court and provide evidence of the scam, citing threat to his life.

The former bureaucrat has written to the Special Public Prosecutor, Special Court for Mines and Minerals in Madurai, in this regard. The special court had issued summons directing him to appear on March 26 and provide evidence.

In his letter, dated March 25, Mr. Sagayam said he was provided an armed guard in accordance with the 2014 Madras High Court order, due to clear threat to his life in the backdrop of his appointment as the Legal Commissioner and Special Officer to probe the irregularities in granite mining.

The security was provided till May 2023, after which it was withdrawn by the State government without the due permission of the High Court, he pointed out.

Mr. Sagayam said he was of the view that the decision taken by some senior police officers, after the formation of a committee, to withdraw the security was biased, flawed and unfair as they did not take into consideration the nexus and track record of stakeholders in granite mining, the nature of the crimes, the scale of irregularities and the pecuniary loss to the government exchequer that he had brought to the fore.

The former IAS officer said that he had initially taken up the issue with the Chief Secretary and the Director-General of Police, requesting that the security be restored.

Meanwhile, AMMK founder T.T.V. Dhinakaran has condemned the State government for withdrawing the security to Mr. Sagayam, and called for restoring it immediately.n the order of the Madras High Court that the security was provided.  He urged the government to restore the security.