Dumper driver booked for attacking policemen during a raid against illegal mining

A dumper driver was booked for attacking policemen, who flagged him and asked him to stop the vehicle loaded with allegedly illegally mined stones from a crushing

A dumper driver was booked for attacking policemen, who flagged him and asked him to stop the vehicle loaded with allegedly illegally mined stones from a crushing zone near Panchgaon village in Manesar on Saturday night.

HT Image

The police said the suspect pelted stones at the police personnel and even tried to run the dumper truck over one of them. Later, however, he managed to flee from the spot after a two-hour-long chase. The police said three official vehicles and one private car were damaged while the special investigation team was chasing the dumper.

Preet Pal Sangwan, assistant commissioner of police (crime), said, the incident took place around 12.20am, when the mining team of South Haryana received information that some people were working in a stone-crushing zone in Panchgaon and that a dumper loaded with illegally mined stones will cross Bilaspur Road. “The crushing zones are selling illegal stones and are under scanner. Although illegal mining operations have been taking place in the Aravallis for over two decades, it was in November 2019 that senior IPS officer Amitabh Singh Dhillon, who was also the director-general of mines and geology department of Haryana, put together an enforcement team to crack down on illegal mining operations in this region,” he said.

Sangwan said teams were deployed at the stretch connecting Bilaspur with Dharuhera near Sidhrawali on National Highway-8. The police teams spotted a speeding dumper coming towards them and, within minutes, the driver rammed in the dumper into their parked vehicles. Two teams started chasing the dumper, but the co-driver started pelting stones at them. When police vehicles tried to intercept the vehicle, the driver again rammed it into the vehicles.

Sangwan said more than three times the driver tried to run a dumper truck over the police officers. “The suspect escaped towards Tauru near Panchgaon. After a chase that lasted for more than two hours, the suspect informed villagers, who surrounded the police vehicles. Women and children obstructed the road and a few of them lay down on it. The suspect took advantage of this and fled from the spot,” said Azad Kataria, sub-inspector of SIT mining, South Haryana.

The police said a commuter, who was driving a Wagon-R and was a witness to the chase, refused to complain against the dumper driver. The car was severely damaged, said the police.

A case was registered against the suspects under sections 307 (attempt to murder), 279 (rash driving or riding on a public way), 336 (act endangering life or personal safety of others), 379 (theft), 411 (dishonestly receiving stolen property), 186 (obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions),of the Indian Penal Code(IPC) at Bilaspur police station in the wee hours on Sunday, said the police.

According to the police, the jurisdiction of the state to check illegal mining is divided into two parts and two police officials have been given charge of two regions. While assistant commissioner of police(ACP) Rajesh Phogat has been given the charge of the Sonepat region, ACP Preet Pal Sangwan has been given the task of curbing illegal mining in Gurugram and Nuh.

According to the police, illegal mining is most active in Nuh and Gurugram. The areas that are particularly notorious for illegal mining include villages of Pipaka, Panchgaon, Raina, Tapkan, and Dhulawat villages — all of which fall under the Tauru belt.

The police added that during the course of the anti-mining operations, several police officers have been attacked by truck drivers carrying illegal material. Over four dozen cases of attempted murder have been registered against such drivers over the last six months.