Three arrested for illegal sand mining in Greater Noida

Three men were arrested by the Ecotech 1 police on Friday for allegedly mining sand illegally on government land in a village in Greater Noida. The police said they

Three men were arrested by the Ecotech 1 police on Friday for allegedly mining sand illegally on government land in a village in Greater Noida. The police said they also seized earthmoving machines and vehicles used by the suspects.

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The suspects were identified as Sonu, a resident of village Bhaisarni; Naresh and Dinesh, who are brothers and are from village Puvari.

According to police officers, they received a tip that sand was being mined on land owned by Greater Noida authority’s in village Puvari. A police team rushed to the spot based on the tip-off.

“The three suspects were engaged in sand mining and were nabbed. Sonu is the driver of the earthmoving machine which was seized from the spot along with a trolley truck. Neither of the vehicles had a registration number,” said deputy commissioner of police, zone 3, Rajesh Kumar Singh.

The police said the three suspects are not a part of any organised syndicate. The suspects were mining the sand for personal use and not selling it for any commercial purpose, they added. The suspects were booked under sections 379 (punishment for theft) and 411 (dishonestly receiving stolen property) of the Indian Penal Code and relevant sections of the sand mining act. They were produced before a magistrate and later sent to jail.

Police officers said incidents of illegal sand mining in the area have gone down this year.

“There have been three isolated incidents in Knowledge Park, Dankaur and Ecotech 1 jurisdictions respectively so far. This zone 3 belt is not prone to organised sand mining mafia,” the DCP said.