Sand mafia: Forest guard dies while trying to stop sand smuggling

Bhopal, Mar 6: A 45-year-old forest guard was killed today when a tractor-trolley loaded with illegally mined sand fell on him while he was trying to stop the trolley at Raira area in Madhya Pradesh's Gwalior district, police said.

A joint team of MP police and forest department, carrying out a drive against illegal sand mining, was bringing 3-4 sand laden tractor-trolleys from the bank of Chambal river to Purani Chowki police station area.

Lala Gurjar (19), at the wheels of one of the tractor-trolleys, tried to flee with the vehicle on National Highway no 3 (Agra-Mumbai), forest officials said. In order to stop him, forest guard Narendra Sharma jumped onto the trolley after which Gurjar speeded up his vehicle.

Both pushed and pulled each other and in the process, the driver pushed the guard down and the tractor-trolley fell on Sharma, Gwalior Superintendent of Police H C Mishra told PTI over phone.

"We are going to charge Gurjar under section 302 (murder) of IPC," the SP said. On April 2 last year, a police constable, Dharmendra Chauhan, was run over by a vehicle carrying illegally mined sand when he tried to stop it in Morena district, adjoining Gwalior.

Earlier, IPS officer Narendra Kumar had died in a similar incident on March 8, 2012, in Morena district. Kumar, who was out on patrolling duty saw the trolley loaded with stones. He signalled the driver to stop but he did not pay heed.

So, he followed the vehicle, cut in and stood in front of the vehicle after getting down from his jeep. But the tractor driver drove on and knocked him down, crushing him to death. The driver was later arrested.

Police and forest officials for last few years have been trying to stop the activities of mafia carrying illegal mining at the banks of river Chambal.

PTI