Illegal sand miners attacked Udupi Deputy Commissioner Priyanka Mary Francis in Kandlur village early on Monday.
“I told the crowd that I am the Deputy Commissioner, but it did not deter them. They kept using abusive language, pushing me around and blocking the cars. In the melee, the sand miner escaped,” Ms. Francis said about her experience at Kandlur.
Accompanied by Assistant Commissioner Shilpa Nag and a few others, she had first gone to Halnadu village where they were followed by some men on motorcycles. But on seeing her gunman in police uniform, they fled. The officials took six persons into custody for illegal sand extraction, seized two phones and keys of two vehicles, and handed them over to the Kundapur police station. The village accountant from Ampar village, Kantharaj, joined the team there.
Later, when the team went to raid an illegal sand extraction site in Varahi River at Kandlur village, they were followed by around 20 persons on 10 motorcycles. “There are about eight sheds in Kandlur,” she said.
Car blocked
As soon as the team arrived at 12.15 a.m., the illegal sand extractors started running. On her instruction, Mr. Kantharaj, Ms. Francis’s gunman Prithivaraj, and Ms. Nag’s driver chased one of the miners, who ran into a shed. Though they caught the miner, they were soon followed by around 60 persons. Some local persons, who realised that the situation would go out of hand, helped them get into their cars. Some persons from the shed then tried to block Ms. Francis’s car, but the driver managed to dodge them. Some others pounded the car with their fists.
She came to Udupi and lodged a complaint at the Town Police Station. “Those working at the extraction sites at both places were from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar,” Ms. Francis said.
