Eight arrested for illegal sand mining in Tamil Nadu

TRICHY: A former AIADMK union councillor and eight others were arrested for illegally mining sand from a river in Trichy district of Tamil Nadu on Friday night.
Based on a tip-off, a team of police officials went to Minikkiyur area near Manapparai. The team found a gang of men loading sand from the Vembanaru river to a truck using an earthmover.
The former AIADMK union councillor was identified as Arunachalam alias Perumal, 56, who is also the husband of current AIADMK union councillor in Thottiyapatti. She was elected in the recently held local body elections. It was alleged that he was the head of the gang.
The arrested men have been identified as Ravichandran, 45, of Thottiyapatti, Thiruppathi, 34, of Meenaveli , Dhanapal, 46, of Annadhanapatti, Kumaresan, 33, of Minikkiyur, Sadasivam, 37, of Kodumbalur, Rasu, 46, of Chinnakonarpatti, Sathishkumar, 27, of Chinnakonarpatti, Sangan, 39, of Muthalvarpatti and Perumal.