BHOPAL: Illegal mining has turned deadly in Madhya Pradesh again.
A Patwari who was tasked with checking illegal mining in Son river was crushed to death allegedly by a tractor-trolley indulging in illegal sand mining from the same river in Shahdol district on Sunday early morning.
The incident happened at around 4 am in Gopalpur village under Devlond police station jurisdiction when a team of four Patwaris (revenue department staff) had gone to patrol near river Son.
The deceased Patwari has been identified as Prasann Singh (originally hailing from neighbouring Rewa district).
The accused tractor-trolley driver Shubham Vishwakarma (22), who hails from MP’s Maihar district has been arrested, just a few hours after a Rs 30,000 bounty was declared on his arrest.
Joint teams of the mining, revenue and police department were engaged in operations against the mining mafia for the last three days. The joint teams returned after the operation in the concerned area (which forms part of the Son Gharial Sanctuary, where any sand mining is banned) at around 9 pm on Saturday.
Around seven hours later, a team of four Patwaris (who were patrolling without any police protection), which included Prasann Singh went for patrolling near the river Son in Gopalpur village, where they spotted illegal sand mining and tried to stop the tractor-trolley indulgent in the illegal practice.
Instead of stopping the tractor trolley, the heavy vehicle’s driver crushed one of the Patwaris to death, while speeding away from the spot. “Coming to know about the incident from the three other Patwaris, the local police’s team rushed to the spot. A case of murder as well as violation of mining rules and motor vehicle rules was lodged,” Shahdol district police superintendent Kumar Pratik said.