The Directorate of Enforcement (ED) has strongly denied the Tamil Nadu government’s allegations that the IIT-Kanpur expert report on the amount of sand mining in the state was "illegal." According to official sources, the ED says IIT-Kanpur had full jurisdiction and did not violate drone rules while checking sand mines in October-November 2023. The ED explained it hired experts because the investigating officer isn’t skilled in mining or survey work. As per the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, the ED can obtain expert help from anywhere in India. It added, "The evidence provided by experts are legally admissible evidence permissible under the Indian Evidence Act, 1872, and the corresponding Section 39 of the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023." The agency noted that whether expert opinions hold up is for trial courts to decide. It said the state police can’t reject a case just because they disagree with a scientific report: "The respondent police cannot act as an appellate court over an expert scientific report to deny the existence of a crime." The experts surveyed the sand mining sites without needing special permission. The ED calls these crime scenes and said the state’s claim that the survey was unreliable is merely “a justification to ignore illegal mining” and suggests the state is protecting such crimes. The report’s lead expert, Prof. Rajiv Sinha, did not personally visit the sites, but the ED said this is normal scientific practice. "Prof. Rajiv Sinha was the founder of the expert company and his presence was not required to do the survey," the statement said. A field team gathered data while experts analyzed it. The ED said, "The validity of the report stems from the integrity of the data and the scientific method of analysis." Instead of cracking down on illegal mining, the state focused on proving the expert report was faulty. The ED also accused the state of intimidating the expert company Terraqua UAV Solutions by questioning whether they had licenses for the survey. Regarding IIT-Kanpur’s role, the ED clarified that the jurisdiction belongs to the investigating agency, not the institution. The ED is free to hire experts from anywhere in India to investigate crimes in Tamil Nadu. The ED also revealed it approached IIT-Madras for help but the institute refused. The charge that drones were flown illegally during the survey has no complaints or inquiries so far, the agency said. Published on December 27, 2025, 12:02 am IST.