Bhopal: A woman mining inspector and eight home guards were attacked by sand mafia in Madhya Pradesh's Shajapur district on Wednesday when they were inspecting illegal excavation of sand from Nevaj river near Banka Khedi village.
The incident occurred when the team led by Mining Inspector Reena Pathak raided the spot following a complaint of illegal mining received on the Chief Minister's helpline.
The team found five tractor-trolleys which were allegedly excavating sand from the river-bed, Pathak said, adding the mafia members hurled stones at the team and also hit them with sticks in which three home guard jawans sustained injuries.
The injured home guards are identified as Manohar Rathore, Badrilal and Radheshyam, she said.
All injured persons were admitted to a hospital at Akodia town.
"We had gone there to check illegal mining. After we seized the tractors two dozen men and women attacked us. We somehow fled and saved our lives and rushed to the nearest police station," Pathak said.
The local administration, however, said that they were not informed about the raid. "As per the rules the mining inspector should have informed the local administration and the police before conducting the raid. Because she did not inform, such an incident has taken place," Sub-Divisional Magistrate Shajapur Ranjeet Singh said.
But Pathak claimed that the local police was informed.
21 people have been booked in this connection but no arrests have been made yet.
The illegal mining operations in Madhya Pradesh have taken the lives of two police officials in the in last three years.
A police constable was killed in Morena in April after the driver of a truck loaded with illegally mined sand lost control of the wheel. Constable Dharmendra Chouhan was part of the police team that had been chasing the truck.
In March 2012, IPS officer Narendra Kumar was mowed down by a tractor allegedly owned by sand mafia in Morena district. A CBI probe was later conducted into the killing and the accused, Manoj Gurjar, was arrested.
(With inputs from agencies)
