Mining inspector kidnapped in Himachal's Paonta Sahib; attempt made to snatch pistol from cop

Tribune News Service

Ambika Sharma

Solan, May 12

An assistant inspector of the mining department was kidnapped and an attempt was made to snatch pistol from a constable by the mining mafia from Uttarakhand at the Yamuna riverbed in Paonta Sahib of Sirmaur district on Wednesday night.

The incident happened at Manpur Devra at around 1.20am.

The officer, however, returned unhurt after about half-an-hour.

The incident occurred when the mining staff, along with a police team, was checking vehicles going towards the riverbed from the crusher zone at the spot close to the  Uttarakhand-Himachal border.

Two trucks carrying gravel were stopped by the staff and the drivers asked to produce M forms which they did not have. The two vehicles, accompanied by constable Dalip Kumar and mining inspector Rajesh Kumar, were then sent to Manpur Devra.

While the team was questioning another truck driver, a white Scorpio coming from the Uttarakhand side rushed towards them. Meanwhile, seven to eight people appeared out of nowhere. They entered into an argument with the team giving the truck driver an opportunity to flee.

The above-mentioned people entered into a scuffle with the team and forcibly dragged assistant mining inspector Sanjeev Kumar into the Scorpio. They made an unsuccessful attempt at snatching the pistol from constable Vikramjeet who sustained injuries in the scuffle.

One of the miscreants was identified as Marhu Chawdhary, a resident of Dhalpur in Uttarakhand, by mining inspector Neeraj Sharma, who lodged a complaint with the police.

Sirmaur Mining Officer Suresh Bhardwaj said the cell phone of the assistant mining inspector was found switched off for quite some time though contact with him was established later.

Paonta Sahib DSP Bir Bahadur said a case under Sections 364, 353, 332 and 34 of the IPC had been registered against Marhu Chawdhary and a probe was under way.

A team of officials comprising the SDM, DSP and mining officer visited the site on Thursday to take stock of the situation.

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