Raisen (Madhya Pradesh): A contractor was arrested by the Madhya Pradesh police for illegally mining sand in the riverbed of Narmada and threatening villagers at gunpoint in Aliganj of Raisen district on Friday.
The arrested contractor has been identified as Rajendra Raghuvanshi of the same locality.
According to police, the accused Raghuvanshi and his aides were illegally mining sand in the Narmada river bed even after the ban on mining.
Following this, Aliganj villagers stopped the sand dumpers this morning and did not allow the contractor and his aides to enter into the village. Fuming over the incident, Raghuvanshi allegedly hurled abused and threatened the villagers by brandishing a gun.
The matter took an ugly turn and a clash erupted between the villages and Raghuvanshi's aides.
Immediately, locals lodged a complaint with the police and following the reports of illegal sand mining in the river bed near the village, Raisen police rushed to the spot.
The police said they have seized earthmoving machines and vehicles used by the contractor and arrested the main accused, Raghuvanshi from the spot.
Meanwhile, Raisen district Collector, Umashankar Bhargav said, "Police on Friday arrested an illegal sand miner allegedly involved in threatening the villagers. Police have started a further probe into the matter after registering the case."
