Chennai, Feb. 17 -- The Madras High Court on Monday ordered a CBI probe into the massive illegal mining of beach sand minerals (BSM) in the southern coastal districts.

Passing orders on a batch of writ petitions, a Division Bench comprising Justices SM Subramanian and M Jothiraman ordered transfer of probe to the Central Investigating agency as large scale corruption, collusion and connivance among politicians, government officials and private mining firms, has come to light.

Observing that the rare natural resources in illegal mining went unchecked causing thousands of crores of rupees to the State exchequer, the Bench directed the CBI Director to form requisite number of Special Investigation Teams (SIT) with enough expertise and...