E.V. Velu | Photo Credit: FILE PHOTO Large-scale illegal sand mining in the dry lake bed at Malappambadi village near  Tiruvannamalai, allegedly by senior DMK leader and former PWD and Highways Minister E.V. Velu, will be probed, Collector Vandana Garg has said. In an interaction with The Hindu, she said the district administration was aware of the complaints of illegal sand mining in the lake. An inquiry committee would be formed to probe the charges of sand theft that had allegedly caused a loss to the exchequer. “We are discussing the issue of illegal sand mining in the lake. An inquiry committee will be formed to conduct a detailed probe into it,” Ms. Garg said. The Collector’s remarks came in the wake of the complaint lodged by Arappor Iyakkam, an NGO, with the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) in Chennai on August 13. The complaint said a large quantity of sand from the dry lake bed was illegally mined by Mr. Velu and his supporters for levelling an open land, spread over 124.56 acres, to organise the DMK’s northern zone youth wing conference on December 14 last year. The conference was attended by DMK president and …