A sub-inspector of police and a constable were allegedly attacked with shovels by a six-member sand smuggling gang at Ma Udaiyur near Kumaratchi on Wednesday. Village people rescued the policemen.
Both the injured persons were later admitted to the Chidambaram Government Hospital for treatment. According to sources, the revenue officials had permitted the village panchayat presidents to extract sand from the Kollidam river at Thillainagapuram near Chidambaram for construction of houses under cyclone Thane rehabilitation scheme.
Misusing the permission, enormous quantity of sand was smuggled from this spot. Alert residents tipped off the police. Sub-inspector Ganapathy. of Kumaratchi police station along with the team including Marimuthu and Ramalingam rushed to the spot and seized a poclain machine and a tractor, on Wednesday. On seeing the police at work, one of the tractors quickly started backing up in a bid to escape. Police gave a hot chase to the tractor up to Ma Udaiyur, when suddenly a gang of six persons interrupted and started attacking the police with shovel.
The residents rescued the policemen.