Sand smugglers kill 2 policemen in UP and Bihar

KANPUR/AURANGABAD: The sand mining mafia continued its deadly run in UP and Bihar, resulting in the deaths of a constable each in the two states, both run over by tractors within hours of each other over the weekend.
In UP, constable Rohit Kumar Pancholi, 24, was killed while attempting to stop a tractor-trolley involved in illegal sand mining in Nagla Chandan area Saturday night.Pancholi, posted at Nawabganj police station in Farrukhabad district, was critically wounded and died of his wounds at a private hospital Sunday morning. A native of Bijnor district, he had joined UP police in 2012.
According to SP Vikas Kumar, two suspects were arrested Sunday night following a police raid that resulted in a shootout. "Pradeep Yadav and Bhupendra Yadav, both residents of Farrukhabad district, were named among five accused in the complaint by the constable's family. Both were shot in the leg during the encounter and later admitted to Mohammadabad Community Health Centre," Kumar said.

In Bihar, constable Deepak Kumar, 29, was run over by a tractor in Aurangabad during a routine check for illegal sand miners around 4am Sunday. Kumar, a native of Bhojpur district, was declared dead on arrival at the govt hospital in Daudnagar. Aurangabad SP Swapna G Meshram said driver Ramta Singh and tractor owner Dharmendra Yadav were arrested later in the day.
On June 6, the body of 25-year-old tractor driver Avanish Kumar was found buried in a sand mound in Bihar's Begusarai. On November 14 last year, sub-inspector Prabhat Ranjan was similarly crushed to death by the sand mafia in Jamui.
These deaths are not isolated - at least 11 people have been killed across the country since 2023 for exposing or acting against illegal mining operations. Thirty-nine people, including police and activists, were killed between 2019 and 2022, according to a Down to Earth report.