BJP MLA claims to threat to life from mining mafia in MP

R D Prajapati, MLA from Chandla, has written to home minister Bhupendra Singh and the SP of Chhatarpur that he received a call on July 29 warning him that he would be killed.

BHOPAL: A BJP legislator in Madhya Pradesh has claimed there is a threat to his life from the sand and granite mining mafia operating in Chhatarpur district in the Bundelkhand region bordering UP.

R D Prajapati, MLA from Chandla, has written to home minister Bhupendra Singh and the superintendent of police (SP) of Chhatarpur that he received a call on his cell phone on July 29 warning him that he would be killed. The MLA said he suspected that the call came from people linked to the sand and granite mining mafia.

Confirming receipt of the MLA’s complaint, superintendent of police Vinit Khanna of Meorna told the New Indian Express that a case was lodged against the unidentified caller on Monday.

Rampant sand mining in Chhatarpur district hit the headlines in June 2017 when an IAS officer Sonia Meena, presently posted as ADM in Umaria district, reportedly received death threats. In a letter to chief secretary B P Singh, Meena had sought security since she had to travel to Chhatarpur district regularly to submit documents/evidence in court. Following the development, her security was beefed up.

Meena, earlier posted as sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) in Rajnagar in Chhatarpur district, had impounded sand trucks belonging to Arjun Singh Bundela. Bundela.

Back in 2016, R D Prajapati left his own government embarrassed when he raised the issue of sand mining on the banks of the Ken river in Chhatarpur district. The Congress too backed the BJP legislator amidst the uproar his revelation triggered. He claimed that illegal miners from adjoining UP were creating a reign of terror in the area.

The then minister for mineral resources Rajendra Shukla denied in the Assembly that there was illegal mining going on. Prajapati had then said he was ready to quit the Assembly if he was proven wrong.

Prior to that in March 2016, the same BJP legislator had courted controversy at a public meeting when he threatened to chop off the arms of tainted government officials who removed the names of villagers from the list of below poverty line (BPL) beneficiaries.

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