BHOPAL: A Deputy Forest Ranger, Subedar Singh Kushwah, was allegedly mowed down by the sand mafia in Morena district of Madhya Pradesh on Friday, exposing rampant illegal sand mining in the Gwalior-Chambal region of the Assembly poll bound state.
It’s the same area, where an Additional SP (ASP) rank Indian Police Service (IPS) officer Narendra Kumar was crushed to death by a tractor trolley engaged in illegal sand mining in the Chambal River in March 2012.
The murder of Subedar Singh Kushwah, 50, near Ghirona temple took place five months after an electronic media scribe Sandeep Sharma, who had exposed alleged police-sand mafia nexus, was crushed to death by a truck in adjoining Bhind district in April.
The incident happened at around 8 am when Kushwah was on duty on the check post to prevent vehicles carrying illegally mined sand from the Chambal river. When the forest department staff tried to stop vehicles allegedly laden with illegally mined sand, one of the vehicles managed to speed away but the other behind it ran him over.
“He was rushed to the district hospital, where doctors declared the deputy forest ranger dead on arrival,” said Morena district police superintendent Amit Sanghi said.