The Madurai district police questioned Union minister M.K. Alagiri’s son Durai Dayanithi’s brother-in-law Vivek’s father Rathinavel and brother Deepak to trace him as he is on the run after the Madurai bench of the Madras high court denied him advance bail five days ago in the criminal case slapped against him.
Police sources said summons have been issued to Dayanithi’s father-in-law Seetharaman and his other brother-in-law, Venkatesh (Kayalvizhi’s husband), to appear for inquiry.
“We have been interrogating Dayanithi’s relatives and friends not only to get information about his whereabouts but also to obtain details about the investment done by him in various businesses with the money minted by illegal quarrying of granite. We strongly suspect that a major portion of it has been invested in Cloud Nine Movies, a film production and distribution company promoted by him and Vivek,” a senior police official said.
While former Madurai collector U. Sagayam’s report, that triggered the survey and raids on granite firms, had stated that Olympus Granites, in which Dayanithi was a partner, had illegally cut 1,824.570 cubic metres of granite, valued at `5.47 crores, incumbent collector Anshul Mishra’s survey team has reported that the “ill-gotten gains run to several crores”.
Dayanithi’s relatives apart, his close aides are also facing the heat.
The police has questioned five of his friends, including Ramakrishnan, his brother and APRO Maheswaran, Manoj and two others.