Sand mafia abducted my son, says tribal sarpanch

BHOPAL: Close on the heels of the murder of a deputy ranger by sand mafia in Morena district, a tribal woman sarpanch in Chhatarpur district alleged sand mafia abducted her son. The sarpanch told additional SP of Chhatarpur she was beaten by mafia men on Saturday.
The mafia is allegedly pressuring the sarpanch to release sand worth of Rs 2 crore confiscated by the district administration.The sand was illegally mined from Dhasan river.
In a police complaint on Saturday, Ramlali, woman sarpanch of Tila village, alleged a group of people barged into her house on September 10 and thrashed her. They were pressuring her to issue an order to release the sand. She alleged when her son Harikrishna tried to save her he was beaten and abducted.
"Please save my son, he is still missing," she told the police. She said she had lodged complaints at Alipora police station, but cops had not taken action. The police have yet to register an FIR.
Additional SP Chhatarpur Jairajkuber told TOI, "After we received a complaint, some people were questioned. We are looking into the matter."
The tribal woman said she had been raising the issue of illegal sand mining and also initiated action. She said a huge quantity of illegally mined sand from Dhasan river was confiscated after a campaign launched by the district collector in June. Those into mining wanted her to issue orders to release the sand dump, but she did not oblige them, she said.
Ramlali alleged, "There are efforts to remove me from the post and a no-confidence motion was brought against me. The mafia wants someone else to become the sarpanch so that it becomes easy for them to get sand released."