Cops: At Rs 6K per trip, Rajasthan drivers smuggle sand, stones from Haryana

Ravinder Saini

Mahendragarh, December 24

Unveiling a new modus operandi, the police have found that tractor-trailer drivers from Rajasthan are being hired to illegally transport stones and sand from Mahendragarh district to the nearby state. The drivers hired for the unlawful trade are paid an attractive amount for the work by businessmen in Rajasthan. Earlier, locals used to transport the material themselves. These findings stem from a preliminary investigation conducted by the police which arrested two Rajasthan residents involved in this illegal activity in the Nangal Choudhary area on Friday night. In a bid to evade arrest, the suspects attacked policemen, injuring Nangal Choudhary police station in-charge Bhupinder Singh.

20 tractors seized

• 20 tractor-trailers loaded with stone, sand seized in 5 months
• More than 80% of the trailers were from Rajasthan
• The material is transported at night to evade police

“During the interrogation, suspects Yadram and Pawan of Bakhrana village (Rajasthan) confessed that they had been hired to transport mined stones from Mahendragarh to Rajasthan. They were to be paid Rs 6,000 for the job. They had transported mining material once earlier,” Bhupinder said.

He said illegal mining of stones was being carried out by locals at a hill near Jainpur village. On Friday evening, a tractor-trailer reached the mining site from Kotputli (Rajasthan) and stones were loaded on it. “The material is generally transported to Rajasthan at night with an intention to evade the police,” he added.

“In the past five months, we have seized around 20 trailers loaded with stones and sand illegally mined from various places in the Nangal Choudhary area. More than 80 per cent of the trailers were from Rajasthan. This proves that illegally mined material is being taken to Rajasthan from Mahendragarh,” said Bhupinder.

He said, “Drivers involved in the unlawful activity are so professional that they immediately either separate the trailer from the tractor or dump the sand and stones on the road when the police start chasing them. On Friday night, the accused fled to the fields after leaving the tractor on the road. It took over an hour to arrest them.”

Bhupinder said an investigation was underway to track all those associated with the illegal trade.