BHOPAL: Prolonged mental harassment by a nexus of police, gambling and sand mining mafia allegedly led an assistant sub inspector (ASI) of police to die by suicide at his official quarter inside the Godan police station premises of Madhya Pradesh’s Datia district early on Tuesday.
The ASI, 51-year-old Pramod Pavan, who hailed from the scheduled caste, was found hanging to death. He posted multiple videos before allegedly resorting to the extreme step.
In the videos, he can be seen alleging a nexus between mining-gambling mafia and the Godan police station in-charge Arvind Singh Bhadauria, the police station’s constable-cum driver Roop Narayan Yadav and the in-charge of Tharet police station Anfasul Hasan.
In one of the videos, the ASI alleged that he was being mentally harassed by the cops led by Godan police station in-charge Arvind Singh Bhadauria, since he stopped the tractor trolley loaded with illegally mined sand of sand mafia Babloo Yadav.
“I've been mentally harassed, I’ve been virtually confined to the police station premises. I was not even able to get my Aadhar and SAMAGRA identity cards made by going to Bhander. Regularly, casteist slurs are passed at me, and I’m even unable to have food.
"The three cops and the sand mafia Babloo Yadav have threatened to get me killed by running a tractor over me. If anything happens to me, all these three cops and the sand mafia Babloo Yadav will be responsible for it,” ASI Pramod Pavan said in the video.
In another video, possibly shot just before the alleged suicide, the ASI said that gambling dens were being run without any fear at 5-6 places by Raghu Yadav, Ram Lakhan Yadav and Ramraja Yadav with the protection of the Godan police station in-charge Arvind Singh Bhadauria and constable-cum-driver Roop Narayan Yadav.
“Multiple murders have taken place due to these gambling dens in the last few years, including the 2024 murder of Narendra Yadav. The police staff is stopped by the police station in charge and the constable-cum-driver from going to the field and acting against the gambling dens.”
“If the call details of constable-cum-driver Roop Narayan Yadav are examined in detail, crucial evidence related to various murders will come to the fore,” the ASI alleged before the alleged suicide.
According to Datia district police superintendent Suraj Verma, “The ASI was found hanging to death in his official quarter in the police station premises in the wee hours on Tuesday. Owing to the videos and the allegations levelled in those videos, a thorough probe has been ordered into the entire matter by the deputy SP (DySP-AJK). The Godan police station in-charge, Arvind Singh Bhadauria, has been attached to police lines to ensure a transparent probe.”
The incident has once again brought to the fore the menace of rampant illegal sand mining in the Gwalior-Chambal region.
In 2018, a 50-year-old deputy forest ranger, Subedar Kushwah, was crushed to death allegedly by the sand mafia in Morena district.
Kushwah was killed by the mining mafia in 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.
In 2019, then cabinet minister in the Kamal Nath-led Congress government, Govind Singh, had admitted that illegal sand and stone mining were rampant in the state, particularly in Datia and Bhind districts of Gwalior-Chambal region.
(If you are having suicidal thoughts, or are worried about a friend or need emotional support, someone is always there to listen. Call Sneha Foundation - 04424640050, Tele Manas - 14416 (available 24x7) or iCall, the Tata Institute of Social Sciences' helpline - 02225521111, which is available Monday to Saturday from 8 am to 10 pm.)