Seven arrested for adulterating coal in Chhattisgarh

Seven people have been arrested for allegedly adulterating coal at a depot in Chhattisgarh's Raigarh district, police said on Tuesday.

Besides, two trucks loaded with illegal consignments of coal were also seized from different places in the district, they said.

Acting on a tip-off, a police team raided Jai Bhole Coal depot in Delari village on Monday after getting reports that low grade coal was being mixed with the higher quality stock there, Superintendent of Police Santosh Singh said.

"Seven people, including four employees of the depot, were arrested and 101.3 metric ton coal worth Rs 1.91 lakh was seized from the spot," he said.

Preliminary investigation revealed that the accused were allegedly involved in mixing inferior quality coal with the high grade consignment which was brought from a mine in neighbouring Odisha, and planned to supply it to Lara-based plant of the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC), Singh said.

Those held were identified as Sheikh Anish (weighing machine operator), Santosh Prajapati (cashier), Sitaram Bhardwaj (loader operator), Sanjay Triki (JCB operator) and three truck drivers - Irfan Ali (32), Bablur Chauhan (38) and Sanjay Sahu (20), he said.

Three trailer trucks, a JCB and a loader machine were also seized from the spot, he added.

Later, when the police personnel were returning after the raid, they seized 36.88 metric ton coal worth Rs 63,000 being illegally transported in a truck.

The truck driver abandoned the vehicle and fled the spot on sensing the police presence, the official said.

In another incident, a truck was intercepted at Indira Vihar check post and the police seized a coal consignment of 20 ton worth Rs 80,000 which was being illegally transported, he said.

Truck owner Dharmraj (46) and driver Veeru Miri (26) were arrested when they failed to produce documents in support of the consignment, he said.

Cases were registered under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code, he added.