Dy tehsildar clings onto JCB for 3km during raid on illegal mining

Nagpur: In a dramatic late-night crackdown on illegal murrum mining in Kuhi taluka, deputy tehsildar Buddhabhushan Nikhalje held onto a speeding JCB for nearly 3km to stop it from escaping during a raid in Bori Naik on Tuesday night.Acting on intelligence about large-scale illegal murrum extraction, a revenue team led by Nikhalje raided the site around 11.30pm. As officials moved in, a tractor driver allegedly tried to run over Nikhalje, who narrowly escaped by jumping aside. At the same time, a JCB, driven by Mayur Thote, a resident of Dahegaon, attempted to flee the spot. Despite being signalled to stop, the Thote accelerated.Nikhalje then grabbed onto the moving machine and continued clinging to it as it sped away in the dark. The driver allegedly tried to make Nikhalje fall off by driving close to thorny bushes along the roadside. Nikhalje suffered injuries to his hands and his shirt was torn, but he held on to the vehicle for nearly 3-4km. The chase ended only when a police team approached from the opposite direction, forcing the Thote to stop.The revenue dept seized one JCB and two tractors allegedly involved in the illegal mining activity. The seized vehicles included the JCB, a tractor owned by Manohar Nirgudkar, and another owned by Jaipal Tulskar of Bori Naik.The raiding team included village revenue officer Mohan Pawar, Anand Maske, revenue servant Nilesh Tirpude, API Raut of Veltur police station and other staff members. Veltur police have registered attempt-to-murder charges against the driver and others involved.