Where is Durga's sand? 80% of the seized illegal sand disappears

New Delhi, Aug 28: Even as this IAS officer's case continues to make headlines, here's another one that might keep the country wondering.

HT reported that nearly 80% of the illegal sand that was seized by the suspended sub-divisional magistrate, brave Durga Shakti Nagpal, has been stolen in the last one week.

The stolen sand which was auctioned for Rs. 8 crore to Omendra Khari, a close associate of SP leader and UP minister Narendra Singh Bhati on July 10, was never picked up. It was seized by Durga after numerous drives against sand mining mafia in the Gautam Budh Nagar district.

The district police did step up its drive against sand mafia after the Supreme Court's orders on illegal sand mining in the country. But the mafia once again became active and "resumed duty" just as the uproar over Nagpal's suspension starts to die down.

"FIRs have been lodged and I am conducting an inquiry into how the sand was stolen from the sites which were supposed to be under police possession," the SSP said.

The total quantity of seized sand at nine sites was 2,00,777 cubic meter from the villages of Gadhi Samspur, Wazidpur Nangla Nagli, Asgarpur Kondli Bangar, Kambakshpur, Badoli, Jhatta, Gulavli and Mangroli in the Gautam Budh Nagar district.

On August 3, Deputy Collector Anju Lata had sent a list of seized sand to the Gautam Budh Nagar police department, to be kept at the respective police stations till a new auction date is set.

OneIndia News