In an audacious bid, the sand mafia in Greater Noida opened fire on a police party led by Superintendent of Police (Rural) and two Deputy SPs late on Sunday night. The officers accompanied by nearly two dozen policemen had a narrow escape as a gun battle ensued at midnight.
Earlier on Friday night, a Sub-Inspector posted in the region was also attacked by the mafia who tried to hit his vehicle with a dumper. Meanwhile, police have arrested seven people and seized ten sand laden dumper trucks and two excavators. This is the sixth major attack on the police by the brazen mafia this year.
The policemen, in order to avoid being identified, had gone to conduct the raid in a dumper instead of police vehicles. But, as they neared the sand mafia, the goons began firing indiscriminately.
They also hit the police vehicle with their dumpers several times and tried to mow down the SP. The police was acting on a tip-off that illegal mining of sand was going on near the Yamuna River. A police team consisting SP (Rural) of Greater Noida, Brajesh Kumar Singh, two Deputy SPs, namely Abhishek Yadav (IPS) and Pradeep along with some other subordinates reached the area in a dumper truck. When the police team retaliated, some of the miscreants tried to stop the police from coming out of their vehicle, while over a dozen fled from the spot along with their vehicles.
Around 40 rounds of bullets were fired during the encounter that lasted for nearly an hour. Police seized dumper trucks and excavators and arrested seven of them from the spot and two persons later in this connection. Police said that more than 50 people were involved in excavation and carrying of sand illegally. More than 30 dumpers and 12 Poclain machines were being used when police reached the spot. Brajesh Kumar Singh, who had a narrow escape in the attack, said the police took the dumper truck instead of police vehicles to get close to the sand mafia and lull them into believing that they were their accomplices.
However, as the police team drew near, the mafia grew suspicious and opened fire. “Initially, the members of the gang considered us their associates as many of us were in civil dress but later they recognised us and made desperate attempts to kill us. At one point of time, they tried to lynch me and Abhishek Yadav, one of the two DSPs,” he said.
locals claim the area along the Yamuna and Hindon rivers is prone to illegal mining as the activity is going on under the very nose of the district administration and local police. As per reports, digging is taking place on the riverbeds of Noida, Dankaur, Kasna and Jewar regions.
“The mining lobby is still busy raking in the moolah and local police allow the movement of trucks and other vehicles, for a consideration. When the water level recedes in the catchment areas of these rivers, the mining mafia comes out in full force in the region,” said Dushyant Nagar, a farmers’ rights activist.