Illegal sand mining and cop murder in MP: Houses of 2 accused demolished, tractor owner held

Shahdol: Authorities have demolished the houses of two persons accused in a case of crushing a policeman to death by a tractor-trolley transporting illegally mined sand in Madhya Pradesh's Shahdol district, an official said on Monday.

The police also arrested the absconding tractor-trolley owner, Surendra Singh, late Sunday night, Superintendent of Police Kumar Prateek told PTI.

Surendra Singh's son Ashutosh Singh, who was piloting the tractor, and vehicle driver Raj Rawat were arrested earlier in connection with the incident which took place on the intervening night of Saturday-Sunday in Badoli village under Beohari police station limits.

A proposal to give an assistance of Rs 1 crore to the family of the deceased assistant sub-inspector (ASI), Mahendra Bagri, will be sent to the Election Commission for approval (in view of the model code of conduct in force), the Chief Minister's Office said.

ASI Bagri, posted at the Beohari police station, was going along with two colleagues to arrest a person in some case. On the way, they saw a sand-laden tractor-trolley coming towards their direction and tried to stop it, SP Prateek said on Sunday.

Bagri and the other policemen gave a signal to the driver to stop the tractor carrying the illegally mined sand. But he did not stop and the vehicle ran over the ASI, the official said.

District Collector Tarun Bhatnagar said the tractor driver's house valued at around Rs 4 lakh was demolished on Sunday evening.

Two houses, valued at Rs 10 lakh and Rs 4 lakh, of tractor owner Surendra Singh were also demolished, he added.

SP Prateek said Beohari police station in-charge Munnalal Rahangdale has been line-attached (removed from field duty).

A proposal to extern the accused father-son duo from the district has been sent for approval of the district collector, he said.

A case was registered against the accused on charges of murder and illegal sand mining under provisions of the Indian Penal Code and the Mines Act, the official said.

'Piloting' in Shahdol is used to refer to moving ahead a vehicle while seeing the road is clear and no checking is being done by authorities.

In November last year, a local revenue department official was crushed to death by a tractor-trolley used for transporting illegally mined sand from the Son river in Gopalpur area of Shahdol district.