On 15 February 2019, Mugilan, an environmental activist disappeared hours after accusing the police and the Sterlite Copper management of orchestrating the violence that took place at the anti-Sterlite protest during a press conference in Chennai. Thirteen people died after police fired at protesters on 22 May 2018. Mugilan was last seen by a few of his friends at the Egmore Railway Station in Chennai. Friends said that in 2016, Mugilan was abducted and beaten for protesting against sand mining in Tamil Nadu.