HC Forms SIT to Probe Illegal Sand Mining Affecting Kovai Elephant Corridor

The Madras High Court on Friday ordered the constitution of a special investigation team (SIT) to conduct a court-monitored probe into the illegal activities of brick kilns and the plundering of natural resources, particularly sand around these kilns, which is affecting the movement of animals along elephant corridors in Perur taluk of Coimbatore.

- R SIVAKUMAR @Chennai

The SIT will have two IPS officers: G Nagajothi, serving with the State Crime Records Bureau, and F Shashank Sai, SP of the Organised Crime Intelligence Unit (OCIU) in Chennai.

A special division bench of Justices N Sathish Kumar and D Bharatha Chakravarthy passed the orders on the petitions seeking to protect elephant corridors by cracking down on illegal brick kilns and rampant earth mining. The bench found that the entire government machinery failed to check illegal mining and take action against the culprits.