Illegal sand racket unearthed in Bihar, Saran SP, cops under scanner

Chapra: The Saran District Magistrate has unearthed a racket involved in illegal transportation of sand in which Superintendent of Police and other civil and police officials are suspected to be involved.

Acting on a tip off, Saran DM Deepak Anand caught several sand laden trucks plying without challan late last night near Chirand under Muffasil police station.

As part of organised racket, the truckers were provided with a code which for the current month of October was stated by the truckers as a Rs 20 note on the basis of which they had freedom to cross the district with sand despite sand mining being banned in the state.

The DM said he ordered registration of FIR against 20 such truckers and penalised more than 40 others.
Anand said when inquired, most of the drivers alleged the money goes straight to district SP. Pankaj Kumar Raj is the SP of Saran at present.

The DM said he would make a recommendation to the state government to institute a high-level inquiry into the entire illegal operation.
Asked if SP would be probed, he said it would be decided by the probe team.

Sand from river Sone was transported by country boats to many spots at Dighwara in Saran district. From there, sand was loaded in trucks which ply late at night through Jay Prabha bridge to the neighbouring districts of Uttar Pradesh like Varanasi, Azamgarh and Gorakhpur, among others.

The truckers had to purchase the code (Rs 20 note for current month of October) at a hefty price of about Rs 6,000 per truck, which provided them freedom to move with sand illegally through the district.