In a daring attack, a revenue department employee ( thalaiyari of Periakottai near here suffered severe cut injuries when an armed gang assaulted him with aruvals on Sunday.
It is said that a few days ago, a flying squad in the district intercepted and seized a vehicle near V Pudukulam village after it was found that sand was being smuggled from the river bed.
The victim, Pandian, 40, who was in Mela Vaniyangudi village at the time, received a call. When he stepped out of the premises, he was attacked by Siva of V Pudukulam and others with aruval .
He fell unconscious and was rushed to hospital, where the doctors referred him to Madurai. Sivaganga Town police registered a case and were on the look out for the suspects.
Collector P. Madhusudhan Reddy recently instructed officials to step up vigil against sand mining and also appealed to people to pass on information about such illegal activities.
The daring attack on the thalayari, who also acted as driver for the Sivaganga Tahsildar, shocked revenue officials. They said they would take up the issue with the district administration on Monday.
A few months ago, in a similar incident, a village administrative officer in Devakottai block was targeted by a sand mining gang. Though revenue officials then seized the lorry, which was carrying sand, a police inquiry was delayed due to political pressure. Following this, the VAO Association staged a protest.
A revenue official in the Collectorate, who was supervising the issue, said the VAOs had represented about the case and firm action would be taken against the attackers.
The doctors at Sivaganga GH said Mr. Pandian had suffered blood loss. Since, he had multiple injuries, they referred him to Madurai.
