6 held in connection with illegal mining of coloured stones

Six people who were involved in carrying out an illegal hunt for coloured stones at Siganapalli mines were arrested by the forest department officials on July 23. The accused were presented in the Narsipatnam court on Wednesday morning.

Visakhapatnam: The forest department officials arrested six persons in connection with their involvement in illegal mining of coloured stones at Siganapalli mines of Chintapalli Mandal on July 23.

The six accused identified as S Nooka Raj, K Raja Babu, D Venakatesh, V Samuel, K Chandar Rao and K Kalyan Rao --- were presented in the Narsipatnam court on Wednesday morning.

K Kaviti Naidu, Chintappalli forest in-charge officer, said: "During a regular visit, police found six men who were carrying out an illegal hunt for coloured stones at Siganapalli mines. Immediately, the police team nabbed them and seized two crowbars, along with few nets for filtration and 21 coloured stones weighing 7.6 grams from their possession."

The country made weapon was seized along with two bows and three arrows. All the seized material has been handed over to the Chintapalli Station House Officer.

The prime accused S Nooka Raju, a native of Chintapalli village, said that he had hired five arrested persons to carry out illegal activities.

A case has been registered and the accused were sent to remand.