MP: Revenue Official Crushed to Death by Sand Mafia, Driver of Vehicle Held

Bhopal: A revenue department official was crushed to death by a tractor-trolley transporting the illegally mined sand on the bank of Son river in Gopalpur area under Shahdol district, police said on Sunday.

The incident took place around midnight of Saturday, police said.

The slain revenue inspector Prasanna Singh was run over by the tractor-trolley when he was trying to intercept it, Deolond police station in-charge Raj Kumar Mishra said on Sunday.

The ‘Patwari’ (revenue inspector) died on the spot, he added.

The driver fled the spot with the vehicle, police said.

The deceased revenue official was part of an inspection team sent to the spot to probe illegal sand mining in the area, police said.

Shahdol district superintendent of police Kumar Prateek said that police took prompt action in the matter by identifying the tractor and its driver.

The driver Shubham Vishakarma (25) was arrested on Sunday morning, he said.

A case under section 302 (murder) of Indian Penal Code has been registered against him.

The tractor has been seized and the owner of the vehicle has been identified, the police officer said.

According to Shahdol district collector Vandana Vaidy, a joint team of the revenue and mining departments and police had inspected the area on November 23 following complaints of illegal sand mining.

The crackdown on the illegal sand mining in the area continued till 8.30 pm on Saturday.

The incident happened when Mr Singh and three of his colleagues went to the spot to take stock of the situation.

State Congress president and former chief minister Kamal Nath blamed the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government for the incident saying that illegal sand mining thrived in the state due to corruption and scams in the government.