Sand mining: Accused’s houses demolished

Absconding tractor-trolley owner arrested

District Collector Tarun Bhatnagar said the tractor driver's house valued at around Rs 4 lakh was demolished on Sunday evening.

A day after a Madhya Pradesh police officer was crushed to death by a tractor-trolley transporting illegally mined sand, authorities have demolished the houses of two persons accused in the case, an official said on Monday.

The police have also arrested the absconding tractortrolley owner, Surendra Singh, late Sunday night, Superintendent of Police Kumar Prateek told PTI.

Surendra Singh's son Ashutosh Singh, who was piloting the tractor, and vehicle driver Raj Rawat were arrested earlier in connection with the murder which took place on the intervening night of Saturday-Sunday in Badoli village under Beohari police station limits.

The Chief Minister's Office said said that a proposal to give assistance of Rs 1 crore to the family of the deceased assistant sub-inspector Mahendra Bagri will be sent to the Election Commission for approval due to the model code of conduct in force).

ASI Bagri, posted at the Beohari police station, was on his way, with two colleagues, to arrest a person in a different case. On the way, they saw a sand-laden tractor-trolley coming towards them and tried to stop it, SP Prateek said on Sunday.

Bagri and the other policemen gave a signal to the driver to stop the tractor, carrying illegally mined sand, but he did not stop and the vehicle ran over the ASI, the official said. A case was registered against the accused on charges of murder and illegal sand mining.

Two houses, valued at Rs 10 lakh and Rs 4 lakh, of tractor owner Surendra Singh were also demolished, said District Collector Tarun Bhatnagar. SP Prateek said Beohari police station in-charge Munnalal Rahangdale has been line-attached (removed from field duty). A proposal to extern the accused father-son duo from the district has been sent for approval of the district collector, he said.

“Our probe has revealed that the son of the owner of the tractor was also involved in it. He has also been arrested. The owner is currently on the run and there's a cash reward of Rs 30,000 for his capture,” Additional Director General of Police Shahdol, DC Sagar said.

‘Piloting’ in Shahdol is used to refer to moving ahead a vehicle while seeing the road is clear and no checking is being done by authorities.

In November last year, a local revenue department official was crushed to death by a tractor-trolley used for transporting illegally mined sand from the Son river in Shahdol.