J'khand: Sand mafia attacks police, tries to run them over with tractor

Ranchi, Jan 5 The sand mafia attacked police officers when they tried to prevent the illegal mining of sand from Barakar river in Hazaribagh district of Jharkhand.

BDO-CO Prem Chand Sinha, ASI Ram Mahato and the police force were assaulted and attempted to be run over with a tractor.

A police officer's gun was snatched and thrown into the river, which was later recovered.

In connection with the incident, Sinha lodged an FIR against 100 unidentified people involved in illegal sand mining and seven named accused in the Chauparan police station.

Sinha alleged that the attackers snatched his gold chain, ring and Rs 4,000.

He was also threatened he would be killed if he attempted to thwart sand mining.

The accused who were named include Dwarika Mahato, Sanjay Yadav, Vicky Yadav, Vinod Yadav, Mahendra Saav, Ravindra Rana and Indradev Yadav.

Four such attacks on the police by the sand mafia have come to light in the state within the last two months.

On December 24, a Hyva truck carrying sand illegally tried to run over SDPO Manish Chandra Lal and his team in Sisai police station area of Gumla.

The truck hit Lal's car injuring the policemen present in the vehicle.

On December 12, sand smugglers attacked Officer In-charge Hiralal Tubid and other policemen in Budhai police station area of Deoghar district.

The smugglers attacked the team when they seized a sand-laden tractor near Jagdishpur rail gate and Sugapahari rail gate. The two accused, identified as Sachin Yadav and Mehboob Khan, were arrested later.

Earlier on November 12, the mafia tried to mow down SDO Alok Kumar and Circle Officer (CO) Nidhi Rajwar when they asked the truck driver to stop for checking at a highway in Bishunpura in Garhwa district.

The accused driver was later arrested near Nagar Untari HP Petrol Pump.