9 cops sent to lines after mining mafia forcibly takes away 'impounded' excavator

Nine police personnel were transferred after mining mafia goons roughed them up and fled with an excavator that had been impounded earlier, a police official said today.

A case has also been registered against unidentified persons and efforts are on to nab the culprits, he said.

All the nine police personnel posted in Kandwal post falling under Nurpur police station of Himachal Pradesh's Kangra district have been shifted to police lines for their inefficiency, Kangra Superintendent of Police Santosh Patial said.

"They have been shifted for inefficient work in taking prompt action against goons of the mining mafia who took away one impounded JCB machine from their possession after manhandling them," Patial added.

Two JCB machines and six tippers were impounded after a tip-off yesterday that illegal mining activity was on at the Chaki riverbed, the official said. The men engaged in the illegal activity fled but soon returned in greater numbers, he said.

They took away one of the impounded JCB machines from the possession of the police after manhandling them, Patial added.

A first information report (FIR) was registered at the Nurpur police station against unknown accused under sections 353 (assaulting or using force to deter public servant from discharging duty), 379 (theft) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and relevant sections of the Mines and Minerals Act, a police official said.

Some of the men involved in illegal mining allegedly came from neighbouring Punjab.

"Their identity is being established. We are trying to find out the owners of the impounded tippers and JCB machines on the basis of their registration numbers. Only after thorough investigation, we will be able to say whether the mining mafia men came from the neighbouring state of Punjab or not," Patial, however, said.

Kangra Additional SP Badri Singh has been asked to investigate the entire matter.

Statements of the owners of the land where illegal mining was being going on are also being recorded.