A police constable on duty was killed in Madhya Pradesh's Morena district on Sunday in an attempt to stop a truck suspected to be operated by sand mafia.
The incident rekindled the memory of the 2012 killing of IPS officer Narendra Kumar, who was mowed down on the day of Holi in Morena when he tried to stop a tractor carrying illegally mined stone.
According to police, constable Dharmendra Singh Chauhan (38), an ex-army man, was posted at Noorabad police station, 470km from state capital Bhopal.
He was a part of a patrolling team that was returning to the police station in the early hours when it spotted a yellow truck (MP-06-GA-0974) laden with sand.
The team intercepted the truck, but the driver did not stop and started to reverse the vehicle.
Chauhan reportedly jumped out of his jeep, ran towards the truck, jumped on to a footrest and asked the driver to bring the truck to a halt.
The driver did not yield and Chauhan was crushed to death. The driver fled, leaving behind the vehicle.
Senior police officials of the district, including superintendent of police Navneet Bhaseen, rushed to the spot on receiving the information.
Mafia on the rampage
{{/usCountry}}Mafia on the rampage
{{/usCountry}}Illegal sand and stone mining is a growing menace in Madhya Pradesh's Chambal region -- of which Morena is a part. The Narendra Kumar incident -- a testimony to the desperastion of the mafia -- had sent shock wave across the nation.
Recently, a miner from Uttar Pradesh had triggered a sensation by accusing an MLA of demanding Rs 5 lakh per month from him to allow work.
The National Chambal Sanctuary, working towards the preservation of ghariyals and riverine dolphins, was also affected by blatant illegal mining of sand from the Chambal river.
The state government had sent a Special Armed Force (SAF) to the area in early 2014 to contain illegal mining following a high court directive, but the force was withdrawn couple of months later on the pretext of the general elections.