The Nilgiris district police arrested six persons including the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam’s (TVK) branch secretary from Ward Number 2 in Udhagamandalam for trespassing into the defunct Hindustan Photo Films (HPF) factory premises and illegally transporting more than three tonnes of soil, believed to be laced with silver nitrate accrued when the plant was functional.

The factory, located at Indu Nagar along the Ooty-Gudalur Road in The Nilgiris, had been functional since 1960 during the tenure of then Chief Minister K. Kamaraj when it was built on 320 acres of forest land leased from the Forest Department. Equipped with extensive infrastructure and employing thousands of workers, it became one of South Asia’s most renowned photographic film manufacturing units. Black-and-white photographic films and X-ray films produced at the factory were exported to several countries.

However, following the economic liberalisation policies of the 1990s, the arrival of private film manufacturers, advances in new technology, and increasing competition from foreign companies, demand for domestically-produced photographic films steadily declined and the factory eventually ceased all operations in 2018.

It is believed that sludge from producing the films would have trace amounts of gold and silver, which would then accrue in the soil in certain parts of the factory premises where they were stored. Forest department personnel and police believe that teams of workers who had been commissioned to scrap the factory for parts had passed on information about the presence of the trace amounts of precious metals to local residents, who, over the last few years, have been arrested trying to steal soil from the factory.

A few days ago, police said that they rounded up three men who were found loitering around the factory, identified as Suresh, Pradeen and Nithish Kumar, who were all arrested. During the investigation, police found that the group had allegedly transported around three tonnes of soil overnight, believing it contained silver particles. Police seized more than 40 sacks of soil along with the goods vehicle allegedly used for transporting them.

Based on further interrogation of the three suspects, police arrested three more men: Ravi alias Sudhakar, Hariharan, and Nandakumar, and have registered a case. They confirmed that one of the men, Suresh, is the branch secretary of the TVK from Ward 2 in Udhagamandalam. Further investigations are ongoing.