scorecardresearch
Friday, March 29, 2024
Support Our Journalism
HomeIndia'Let's teach police a lesson' — illegal miners who ran over DSP...

‘Let’s teach police a lesson’ — illegal miners who ran over DSP ‘threatened his team with gun’

Tauru DSP Surendra Singh, 59, who was due to retire in three months, was mowed down Tuesday by a dumper allegedly carrying illegally mined stones in Haryana's Nuh.

Follow Us :
Text Size:

Nuh: Around 11 am Tuesday, 59-year-old Tauru Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Surendra Singh, along with three others, was following an overloaded dumper in the Aravallis at Pachgaon village of Nuh, Haryana.  

Four young men travelling in the dumper allegedly threatened the DSP and his team while brandishing a katta (country-made revolver). DSP Singh, who was due to retire in three months, was subsequently mowed down by the same dumper.

While the DSP died on the spot, the others are believed to have jumped aside to save themselves. The incident has sent shockwaves through the country, and put the spotlight back on alleged illegal mining in the Aravalli region.

While activists have questioned how individuals could commit such a crime without “backing”, the Nuh police have denied the involvement of any land mafia in the killing.

Nuh Superintendent of Police (SP) Varun Singla told The Print, “There is no single mafia involved. The mining happens on local, village level, and not in an elaborate and organised manner. Wherever there are small hills, the local residents usually mine for their own small benefits.” 

“The police department keeps cracking down on such mining along with the mining department. We hand over the vehicle to the mining department after checking their documents. If documents are not correct, we fine them under the Motor Vehicles Act,” he added.

According to the FIR — accessed by ThePrint — Singh was accompanied at the site by ASI Sanjay Kumar, gunman Amit Kumar and driver Amit. The six-wheel dumper, the FIR says, was carrying heavy stones.

The men in the dumper were allegedly driving the vehicle uphill, and — on being spotted by the DSP and his team — started emptying the carrier of stones, the FIR adds.

Stopped by the DSP and his team, the men allegedly threatened to kill them. One of the suspects is quoted in the FIR as having said that they “should teach the policemen a lesson so they cannot be fined again under the Mining Act”.

The dumper driver, identified in the FIR as Mittar, then allegedly ran the vehicle, which had no number plate at the back, over the DSP.

One accused — identified as Ikkar, a native of Pachgaon village — is in custody. Ikkar is under treatment for a bullet injury in the knee, allegedly sustained during the confrontation with the DSP and his team. Three other accused — Mittar and two unidentified individuals — are on the run. 

The FIR invokes IPC sections 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder), 333 (voluntarily causing grievous hurt to deter public servant from duty), 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of duty), 186 (voluntarily obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions) and 120B (criminal conspiracy).

The Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act, and the Arms Act have also been invoked.

The DSP hailed from Hisar and his family is settled in Kurukshetra. He is survived by his wife and two children — a daughter who is a bank officer in Bengaluru, and a son who studies in Canada. After an autopsy at the Community Health Centre in Nuh, his body was taken to his native village in Hisar, where his last rites will be performed once his son arrives from Canada.

The police are awaiting the post-mortem report, but hospital sources told ThePrint that Singh’s upper body, especially his chest and head, was severely damaged.


Also Read: ‘Sand mafia, goonda tax’: Illegal mining is no secret, but still an election issue in Punjab


‘Such incidents not new, not possible without political backing’

An activist working in the Aravallis, on condition of anonymity, told ThePrint that these incidents “are not new”. 

“One can imagine how two or three villagers can dare to kill such a senior police officer without any political backing. We have been told by villagers that such people from nearby villages are employed for Rs 500 per day to break stones or Rs 1,000 per day for driving the vehicle carrying these stones,” the activist added.

Jyoti Raghavan from the Aravalli Bachao Citizens Movement, said the “brazen murder” of DSP Singh was shocking.

“Since March 2021, members of the Aravalli Bachao Citizens Movement have documented illegal stone and sand mining taking place in 16 locations in the Aravallis in Gurgaon, Nuh and Faridabad districts in Haryana, and filed a case in the National Green Tribunal regarding the same. We hope that this unfortunate incident is a wake-up call for the Haryana government to take tough steps to deal with such unlawful mafia elements,” she told ThePrint.

Last month, the case filed by the citizens’ group had prompted the National Green Tribunal to order the setting up of a government panel to survey the region for evidence of illegal activities.

Previous attacks on cops, govt officials

Nuh SP Varun Singla said raids are continuously organised in the region. 

“These are individual people involved in activities of illegal mining. Since this is a hilly area, there is a lot of scope for illegal mining activities. But these things happen because these drivers are reckless and don’t care for the lives of others,” Singla added. “If someone wants to stop them, they want to save their challan and vehicles. In order to do that, they can go to any extent,” he told ThePrint, saying his vehicle was also damaged by an overloaded dumper last year. 

According to Singla, in December last year, he and his team stopped 12 overloaded vehicles, and while they were questioning the drivers, a dumper charged towards his vehicle and rammed into it. “The policemen jumped out of the vehicle, but one constable suffered injuries,” he added.

In 2019, a team of the Mewat administration and police was reportedly attacked by over 25 suspected members of the sand mafia during a raid in Ferozepur Jhirka. A sub-divisional magistrate and a deputy superintendent of police were injured in the incident. 

Earlier this month, Haryana Chief Secretary Sanjeev Kaushal directed all deputy commissioners and superintendents of police to take immediate action against illegal miners. He asked the officers of the state’s mining department to personally visit sites where illegal mining was under way, and submit a report regarding the same.

(Edited by Gitanjali Das)


Also Read: In Haryana tragedy, deadly mix of ‘illegal mining’, disputed leases & a village of dependents


 

Subscribe to our channels on YouTube, Telegram & WhatsApp

Support Our Journalism

India needs fair, non-hyphenated and questioning journalism, packed with on-ground reporting. ThePrint – with exceptional reporters, columnists and editors – is doing just that.

Sustaining this needs support from wonderful readers like you.

Whether you live in India or overseas, you can take a paid subscription by clicking here.

Support Our Journalism

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

Most Popular