Shahdol, Nov 26, (The Street Press India) – In Shahdol district, Madhya Pradesh, a patwari – a local official from the revenue department – lost his life when a tractor-trolley, involved in the illegal transport of sand, tragically crushed him. This unfortunate incident was reported by the police on Sunday.
An official has confirmed that the police have taken the driver of the vehicle into custody in connection with the incident. This happened around midnight on Saturday.
A government patrolling team, led by patwari Prasann Singh, caught up with a tractor-trolley carrying unlawfully mined sand near Son River in the Gopalpur area. This information was shared by Rajkumar Mishra, the in-charge of Deolond police station.
Upon reaching the river, Singh, who is assigned as a patwari in Khadda of Bohari tehsil, encountered a tractor-trolley transporting sand. In an attempt to intervene and halt it, the driver tragically ran over him, as recounted by Singh.
Tragically, Singh lost his life on the spot, and the driver, believed to be responsible, fled the scene with the vehicle, according to the official statement.
Shahdol’s Superintendent of Police (SP), Kumar Prateek, informed PTI that the police swiftly initiated an investigation. They promptly identified the tractor and its driver, Shubham Vishwakarma (25), who was apprehended on Sunday morning.
Vishwakarma, a resident of Maihar district located approximately 8 km from the crime scene, has been charged under section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), as reported by the Superintendent of Police.
The authorities have seized the tractor, and the owner has been successfully identified, according to the statement provided by the Superintendent of Police.
In response to complaints about illegal sand mining, District Collector Vandana Vaidya mentioned that a collaborative team comprising representatives from the revenue, mining departments, and the police conducted an inspection of the area on November 23.
Vandana Vaidya noted that illegally mined sand was confiscated from the same area on both Thursday and Friday.
The Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) of Beohari, along with other officials, took decisive action against the illegal activity in the area until 8:30 pm on Saturday, as reported by the collector.
Regrettably, the incident occurred when Singh and three of his colleagues went to the spot to assess the situation later, according to the collector.
State Congress Chief Kamal Nath attributed this incident to the alleged corruption and scams that occurred during the BJP rule in the state.
In a post on X, State Congress Chief Kamal Nath expressed, “This is not the first time that the sand mafia in Madhya Pradesh has crushed a government official to death in such a way. This situation has arisen due to corruption and scams that flourished during the Shivraj (chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan) government in Madhya Pradesh”.
Condoling the tragic death, the Congress leader called for providing financial assistance to the family of the deceased.
