IPS officer crushed to death by mining mafia in Madhya Pradesh

                                                     
BHOPAL: A young Indian Police Service (IPS) officer Narendra Kumar was mowed to death on Thrusday afternoon as he tried to intercept tractor laden with illegally mined stones in Morena district -once again exposing the 'mafia like' mining network existing in Madhya Pradesh.

Kumar, an IPS officer of 2009 batch, was critically injured as he was crushed by the tractor and was rushed to a hospital but he succumbed to his injuries on his way to hospital, Deputy IGP (Chambal range) D P Gupta said.
Reacting to the development, leader of the opposition in the assembly Ajay Singh told TOI that the opposition parties had raised the issue of rampant illegal mining across the state during the winter session of the Vidhan Sabha late last year but the BJP government preferred to remain silent without taking any concrete action. "We have been pointing towards presence of mining mafia which enjoyed political patronage of the ruling party. Morale of illegal mining mafia is so high that they have now killed an IPS officer", he said.

However, when the driver did not budge, he again overtook the vehicle, and this time stood in front of the vehicle to bring it to a halt. But the tractor driver, identified as Manoj Gurjar, instead of stopping the vehicle, speeded up and hit the 30-year-old officer, crushing him under the wheels.
Following the incident, the officer was rushed to a hospital here, where he was declared brought dead, the DIG said, adding prima facie it appears that the mining mafia active in the area is behind the incident.
Kumar was posted at Banmore since last one month and during his brief tenure he had taken on the mining mafia head-on by seizing a number of trucks and tractors engaged in illegal mining in the area, sources said.
Madhya Pradesh Home Minister Uma Shankar Gupta and the State’s Director General of Police (DGP) Nandan Dube have rushed to Gwalior following the incident.
Leader of Opposition in the Madhya Pradesh Assembly, Ajay Singh, alleged the manner in which the IPS officer was killed indicated how bad the law and order situation in the state was. ”One can imagine the law and order situation in a state where people are so emboldened that they can think of killing an IPS officer,” he said in a statement here.
Congress had since long speaking about illegal mining in the state but the BJP government had not done anything to control it, he alleged.