Chennai, Sep 15 (IANS): Vigilance officials searched 34 places in Tamil Nadu Saturday, after filing two cases against two IAS officers and a group of state officials for irregularities in quarrying.

The Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) said it had conducted a detailed inquiry to probe largescale irregularities in granite quarrying in Madurai district over the past several years.

According to DVAC, a case under the Prevention of Corruption Act has been registered against IAS officers N. Mathivanan and C. Kamaraj and other state government officials.

Mathivanan, currently director at the Department of Sugar, was formerly the district collector in Madurai, around 450 km from here.

Kamaraj, managing director of the Tamil Nadu Salt Corp, was a former district collector at Madurai.

According to DVAC, Mathivanan and some officials abused their position, concealed facts pertaining to largescale illegal quarrying by PRP Granites and Exports.

The DVAC also charged them with falsifying the records to show that there was no illegal quarrying by the company.

The DVAC has charged Kamaraj and some officials with abusing their official position to conceal the encroachment and illegal quarrying in the water bodies of Madurai district.

The role of several serving and retired government officials of various departments and private individuals is also being probed, DVAC added.

The Saturday raids are part of the AIADMK government's crackdown on the illegal granite quarrying.

Several granite quarry owners, including Durai Dayanidhi, son of central minister M.K. Alagiri, have been brought under the scanner for illegal quarrying.

Dayanidhi was a director in Olympus Granite, one of the companies under the government scanner for illegal quarrying.

A "look out" notice was issued by police for Dayanidhi. He has applied for anticipatory bail in the Madurai Bench of Madras High Court.