Yavatmal: The Yavatmal Rural Police have booked a local contractor and his partner for the blast in the stone mine without any intimation to the residents on Saturday.
The police have also booked five villagers on a counter complaint lodged by the contractor.
According to the Rural Police Station Officer (PSO) B M Gaigole, the sarpanch of village Bhoyar, Dinesh Gaurkar, in a complaint, has alleged that Contractor Sanjay Chhiddarwar and his partner Sawarlal Chaudhari conducted blasting operation in their stone mine situated in the village without intimation to the residents. Following the blast, stone pieces were scattered and some of them hit the roofs of their houses. The blast also caused panic among the locals who later marched to the mine site and pelted stones at the vehicles and thrashed the stone crusher operator.
"We have registered criminal offence against Sanjay Chhiddarwar and Sawarlal Chaudhari under sections 5 and 9 (b) of Indian Explosive Act and sections 286 and 427 of IPC," Gaigole said, adding that no arrest was made so far. The sarpanch has also alleged that the stone crushing operation contaminate the drinking water source and affects the environment and demanded for winding up of the stone mining operation.
PTI