Hillock collapse: Nuh police nab illegal mining kingpin

Sumedha Sharma

Gurugram, November 27

A day after a dumper driver was buried alive in a hillock collapse during illegal mining in the Aravallis in Rajasthan, the Nuh police have arrested an illegal mining kingpin in that regard.

Three-day remand

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• Accused Shahbuddin runs a mining racket and is suspected to have been working at the hillock collapse site at Deeg
• The Nuh police conducted raids and arrested him from Rawa village following a tip-off and obtained his three-day remand
• He was booked by the Nuh police around 10 days ago for allegedly trying to undertake illegally mining in Ferozepur Jhirka

‘Informer’ attacked

Shahbuddin’s associates attacked the family they suspected of informing the police. We have registered an FIR in that regard too. Nuh police statement

Accused Shahbuddin runs a mining racket and is suspected to have been working at the hillock collapse site in the Nangal crusher zone Deeg. He was booked by the Nuh police around 10 days ago for allegedly trying to undertake illegally mining in the Ferozepur Jhirka area.

After the yesterday’s incident, the police conducted raids and arrested Shahbuddin from Rawa village in Nuh following a tip-off. He has been taken on three-day remand and is being interrogated.

Meanwhile, his gang allegedly attacked the police informer and his family, leaving them injured. “His associates attacked the family they suspected of informing the police and we have registered an FIR in that regard too,” said the Nuh police in a statement.

Following a lull after the Tauru DSP’s murder, illegal mining has again become rampant in border areas adjoining Rajasthan. The Rajasthan Government has allowed mining there, but the permission is being grossly misused as miners thrive on lack of vigilance and discrepancy over jurisdiction as regards these hillocks.

There are many hills the one side of which falls in Rajasthan and other in Haryana. Besides illegally quarrying the hills way more than the permissible limit, the miners also try to cross over to Haryana that has managed to eliminate mining to a great extent since Tauru DSP’s murder.

“Villages like Rawa are home to conventional miners. With mining strictly curtailed here, they are now being called to Deeg and Bharatpur to work on hillocks on the border of the two states. These people not only undertake quarrying in Rajasthan, but also transport the mined material through forests at night. All those working at the collapse site yesterday were from Ferozpur Jhirka. We will arrest the other persons involved in case soon,” said a senior investigator.

There is discrepancy between the two states as regards the jurisdiction over several hills in the Aravallis. Around 15 acres at Rawa village in Nuh district have been under illegal mining by miners from Rajasthan. For long, it was believed to be a part of Rajasthan. In a recent demarcation exercise, it was, however, found that the land was part of Haryana’s no mining zone.