Police officer mowed down by tractor carrying illegally mined sand in Bihar
PATNA: A 28-year-old sub-inspector of police (SI) was mowed down and a home guard was seriously injured by a tractor carrying illegally mined sand in Bihar's Jamui district on Tuesday, a second incident of murder of police officer in illegal mining in the state in a month.
The police said the incident took place around 7 am when a police team led by sub-inspector Prabhat Ranjan was engaged in an operation against illegal sand mining in Jamui district.
The deceased SI was additional station house officer at Garhi police station.
A home guard jawan, identified as Rajesh Kumar Sao, also suffered injuries in the incident and is undergoing treatment at a hospital in Jamui.
The police later seized the tractor and launched a manhunt to arrest the driver, stated to be a resident of Nawada.
The Jamui superintendent of police said that a police team attached to Garhi police station was on regular patrolling when it spotted a tractor laden with illegally mined sand. The police signaled the driver to stop the vehicle but he refused.
The driver whose identity is yet to ascertained mowed down the SI and escaped after abandoning the tractor on the spot.
He was rushed to a local hospital where Ranjan was declared brought dead.
The SP said a special team has been set up to arrest the accused driver at the earliest and initiate action against him.
The deceased police officer of the 2014 batch was stated to be a resident of Bhagwanpur in Vaishali district.
Earlier, on Nov 1, a police constable was crushed to death by a tractor laden with illegally mined sand in Aurangabad district.
In addition, a police team was attacked by sand mafia in Munger district recently.
An officer posted at police headquarters admitted that frequent incidents of attack on police teams by sand mafia have been reported from districts like Nawada, Gaya, Jamui, Bhojpur, Patna and Jamui in recent past.
Education minister Prof. Chandrashekhar, however, said that the incident of murder of police officer by sand mafias has not been reported for the first time.
“Such incidents happen from time to time in the state. Police will take action against the accused,” he told the media.
He was displeased with reporters for asking questions from the state education minister, who had nothing to do with the law and order situation in the state.
He, however, defended the government on law and order and said that it was job of the police and mines and geology department to check illegal sand mining from different rivers in the state.