Goons of a sand mafia, said to be of a BJP leader, allegedly crushed a tribal farmer to death when he tried to stop them from driving their illegally mined sand laden tractor-trolley through his agricultural field which would have resulted in damage to his rice crop in the Singrauli district of Madhya Pradesh.

The opposition Congress launched a scathing attack on the BJP government and CM Dr Mohan Yadav over the incident.

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According to information, the incident took place in village Gannai under the jurisdiction of Sarrai police station late night Sunday.

The tractor-trolley ferrying illegally mined sand from the Pateer River in the area reportedly belonged to local BJP leader Lalle Vaishya, who is the former Vice-President of the BJP’s youth wing, the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM).

Sources said that in order to avoid the police, the goons of the mafia were repeatedly driving through the agricultural field of tribal farmer Indrapal Agariya (46). The farmer had sown rice in the field and the crop was being severely damaged by the tractor.

On late Sunday night, Indrapal tried to stop the goons from driving through his field but instead of stopping they allegedly drove the tractor over Indrapal. The tribal got crushed under the wheels and died on the spot. After that, the goons left the tractor on the spot and fled away.

According to Singrauli SP Nivedita Naidu, the tractor owner Lalle has been arrested. The SP said further action would be taken on the basis of the postmortem report.

MP Congress Chief Jitu Patwari said this was yet another incident in the long list of crimes and atrocities against poor tribals in Madhya Pradesh. Patwari said the accused in this case too are BJP leaders. Patwari said CM Yadav, who is also the Home Minister, has been quiet over all such incidents.

Former Congress MLA Kamleshwar Patel alleged that a BJP leader crushed a tribal farmer to death. Patel targeted MP CM Mohan Yadav alleging that the CM has converted Madhya Pradesh into Mafia Pradesh.

Former MP CM and Congress leader Kamal Nath said yet another tribal was murdered in MP. He questioned would such crimes ever stop?