E-Paper
Bathinda police to quash illegal mining case highlighted by AAP MLA
Bathinda SSP J Elenchezian confirmed the case is being withdrawn but declined to share investigation details. Repeated attempts to contact the MLA on Thursday remained futile.
Less than two weeks after the Bathinda police registered a case of illegal mining after the intervention of AAP MLA from Maur Sukhveer Maiserkhana, the district authorities on Thursday decided to quash the FIR.
Development came as an embarrassment to the first-time MLA of the ruling party Maiserkhana, on late night of September 8, claiming he had busted ‘organised illegal mining activities’ in his constituency.
Bathinda’s additional deputy commissioner Rahul, on Thursday, conveyed the decision to cancellation of the case to the protesting activists of Bhartiya Kisan Union (Ekta Ugrahan) at Maur town.
“Entire paperwork to withdraw the case will be completed by next week,” he told the gathering.
But the district police administration is tightlipped.
Bathinda senior superintendent of police (SSP) J Elenchezian confirmed that the case is being withdrawn but declined to share investigation details.
Officials sources privy to the development said no conclusive evidence was found in the allegations of illegal mining at Maur Chadat Singh Wala village as levelled by the MLA.
Repeated attempts to contact the MLA on Thursday remained futile.
Senior AAP leader from Bathinda and party’s official spokesperson Neel Garg declined to comment on the police move to dismiss the mining case.
Matter gained centrestage after Maiserkhana took a firm stand on the alleged mining carried out in the fields of Harjinder Singh Baggi, who is the Bathinda district general secretary of BKU.
While Baggi was not named in the FIR, three tractor and earthmover machine drivers — Sukhjeet Singh, Gurmail Singh and Jeeta Singh — were arrested and machines were seized.
Also, Kotfatta SHO Bhupinderjeet Singh was suspended after he could reach the alleged mining spot, as alerted by the MLA himself, for unspecified reasons.
BKU leadership blamed the MLA for pressurising the police for registering a false. It staged a protest outside the Maur police station for several days.
Union state general secretary Shingara Singh Maan said workers were engaged in levelling semi-arid land to make it fit for cultivation.
“It is common for farmers of southwest districts of Punjab to level the sandy dunes,” he had said.
In a Facebook live on September 10, Maiserkhana said the AAP government was committed to taking stern action against those involved unauthorised excavation of natural resources. “Those involved in excavation need to explain why they were working late at night, use of heavy machinery and digging more than 25-feet,” he had said.
