Sand mafia opens fire at cops in Datia

Bhopal: Two days after sand mafia threatened forest guards in Gwalior, the mafia now attacked a police team in Datia on Saturday when the cops challenged illegal mining of the mineral.
Mafia opened fire, though no one was injured. About 7 in the morning, cops posted at Udi police chowki , about 100 km away from the district headquarter of Datia, spotted three tractor-trollies loaded with sand quarried illegally from Pahuj river.The sand was mined from Bercha mining area of the river, police said. They asked the drivers to stop but they hurled abuse at the cops before speeding away. However, ASI Devendra Jadon and his team chased them and intercepted the tractors.
They were stopped and were brought to Udi Chowki. However, as soon as the cops entered the police station and started registering a case, the drivers took away the tractors. When the police tried to chase them, they attacked the police. Now, they were accompanied by some other people also, police said. They threw bricks and pelted stones at police. Some of them also opened fire and escaped. The police also retaliated and opened fire.
Additional SP Devi Singh Bhadoria later told media that a case under section 307 (attempt to murder) , and 353 (creating obstruction in public servant’s work) 187 (rioting) of IPC was registered against seven persons. Police said they are habitual offenders and serious cases of crime had been pending against them in different police stations. Two days back, in a similar incident, sand mafia had brandished a country-made pistol at forest guards, threatening them to kill. Later, they escaped, leaving behind the tractor-trolley loaded with sand.