Madras High Court denies interim relief to DMK’s ex-Minister E.V. Velu, his son in lake bed excavation case

The Madras High Court on Wednesday (October 7, 2026) refused to grant interim relief to DMK’s former Minister and incumbent Party Whip in Tamil Nadu Assembly E.V. Velu (76) and his son E.V. Kumaran (48) in a case booked against them for allegedly excavating 45,72,058 cubic feet of sand from Malappambadi lake in Tiruvannamalai district for levelling the venue of the party’s north zone youth wing conference held on December 14, 2025.

Justice V. Lakshminarayanan rejected the plea for an ex-parte interim stay and ordered notice, returnable by November 6, to the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti Corruption (DVAC) on individual petitions filed by the father and son to quash the First Information Report (FIR) registered against them on September 24, 2026. Jayaram Venkatesan of Arappor Iyakkam, the anti-corruption NGO was the complainant.

The complainant had alleged the illegal excavation from about eight acres of the waterbody, in and around November 2025, to level the lands, belonging to a private company in which Mr. Kumaran was one of the directors, resulted in a loss of ₹8.22 crore to the public exchequer. However, both petitioners claimed they were innocent and had not committed any offence.

Highlighting that the FIR had been registered only after a change of government in Tamil Nadu, Mr. Velu, in his petition said this was the second criminal case booked against him at the instance of Arappor Iyakkam after the formation of the TVK government in May 2026. The first FIR, also booked by the DVAC, in connection with laying of highways had already been challenged before the High Court.

Senior counsel Sidharth Luthra, assisted by Rahul Balaji, contended the FIR under challenge had been registered entirely on surmises, political conjecture and general statements without attributing any overt act against the petitioners. The court was told that even if the contents of the FIR were taken to be true on face value, still they do not disclose commission of any offence.

Mr. Luthra also pointed out since the FIR dates back to the period when Mr. Velu was the State Highways Minister, the FIR does not disclose whether any approval required under Section 17A of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 had been obtained. “In any event, the FIR does not contain any allegations attracting the provisions of the PC Act, except making bald and sweeping allegations of abuse of official position,” he added.