Former IAS officer U. Sagayam approaches Madras High Court seeking police security

The Madras High Court on Monday (November 10, 2025) has sought the response of the Director General of Police (DGP) to a writ petition filed by former Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer U. Sagayam to consider a plea made by him for restoring a gunman who had been deployed for his security since 2014.

Justice A.D. Jagadish Chandira directed a government counsel to obtain instructions from the DGP by November 24 since Mr. Sagayam had claimed he was continuing to face threat from the granite mining mafia and was unable to depose safely before the trial court in the absence of security.

The petitioner contended he was the first IAS officer in the country to disclose his assets as a measure of accountability and he was known for his integrity. His upright conduct had resulted in 22 transfers in a span of 23 years until he obtained voluntary retirement from service in October 2020, Mr Sagayam said.

During his stint as Madurai Collector in 2012, he had unearthed large scale illegalities in granite mining in the district and submitted a comprehensive report to the State government on May 19, 2012 quantifying an approximate loss of ₹16,000 crore to the public exchequer due to the irregularities.

Shortly thereafter, he was transferred and posted as the Managing Director of Co-optex, a government undertaking that had been a loss making entity since the 1990s. “Within 15 months of his appointment, the petitioner revived the institution into a profitable enterprise,” his affidavit read.

He added in 2014, activist ‘Traffic’ Ramasamy alias K.R. Ramaswamy filed a public interest litigation petition against illegal mining operations and the High Court had appointed him as a Special Officer in that case on September 11, 2014 for inspecting mining operations across the State and submitting a report to the court.

At the time of such appointment, he was provided with an armed security guard on the basis of a specific direction issued by the court. However, due to non cooperation from the then State government, his inspection was confined to Madurai district alone and he filed an extensive report on November 23, 2015.

The report had estimated a total loss of ₹1,11,000 crore having been caused to the government treasury because of illegal granite mining and reported instances of human sacrifices conducted before the mining operations, destruction of hills and the role played by government enterprise Tamil Nadu Minerals Limited.

After the submission of the report, the petitioner and his family members were subjected to threats, intimidation, and bribe offers from individuals involved in the illegal mining activities and the Tallakulam police in Madurai city had registered two First Information Reports in 2015 based on his complaints, he said.

Realising these threats, the High Court in 2018 reaffirmed the police security that had been provided to him. When the security was withdrawn abruptly in November 2020, the court intervened again and passed an order on November 13, 2020 to restore the security guard.

Nevertheless, the gunman was withdrawn on May 26, 2023 and was not restored despite multiple representations made to the DGP, Home Secretary and others, he complained and said he was unable to depose before the trial court in the illegal granite mining cases due to lack of security.