The demand for minerals, boulders and sand is so great that it has fueled a black market and the goons who control this trade do not hesitate to kill law enforcement officers and reporters who have tried to expose them.
What Subedaar lacks is that element of surprise that makes a film worth the viewer's time and willingness to engage, observes Deepa Gahlot.
The petition alleged that "illegal mining" was being carried out by Singh, the MP from Kaiserganj, in Majharath, Jaitpur and Nawabganj villages of Tarbganj tehsil in the district.
The Enforcement Directorate on Tuesday alleged that Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leader and Tamil Nadu Higher Education Minister K Ponmudy issued "illegal" red sand mining licenses to his MP son, relatives and some benami holders, and that huge amount of "hawala" funds generated from this mining business was used to purchase companies abroad.
A BJP government in Bengal inherits more problems than it might care to admit at its moment of triumph, points out Ramesh Menon
Experts believe the surge in illegal mining is due to vested interests of politicians
The ED on Wednesday said it has seized cash amounting to over Rs 10 crore, including about Rs 8 crore from a relative of Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi, during raids conducted in connection with an anti-money laundering investigation against illegal sand-mining operations in the poll-bound state.
Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut accuses Ajit Pawar of protecting 'thieves' after a video surfaces showing Pawar allegedly chiding an IPS officer for taking action against illegal excavation. Raut demands Pawar's resignation.
Karnataka Lokayukta Police on Tuesday raided the premises of former minister and mining baron Janardhan Reddy in Bellary for alleged illegal mining and possession of disproportionate assets.
Amid uproar over suspension of a woman Indian Administrative Service officer allegedly under pressure of the "mining mafia", the Uttar Pradesh government is working on a proposal to constitute a special "mining force" to check illegal mining activities in the state.
On January 18, the agency had raided his premises and claimed to have seized about Rs 8 crore cash.
Prashant Kishor's Jan Suraaj Party on Wednesday named former vice chief of army staff, Lieutenant General Krishna Singh, as its candidate for the bypoll to Tarari assembly seat in Bihar.
Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh in the south, and Rajasthan and Gujarat in the west, are the country's top producers of limestone
Reacting to the incident of a police sub-inspector being mowed down by a tractor carrying illegally mined sand in Jamui, Bihar Minister Chandra Shekhar said that the incident is nothing new and asked whether such incidents did not happen in other states.
IAS officer Durga Shakti Nagpal, whose suspension by UP Government has sparked a controversy amid allegations that she was targeted for taking on the powerful sand mafia, on Friday met the Secretary to Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav.
Rana Gurjit denied the charges saying neither he nor his company - Rana Sugars Limited - has any direct or indirect stakes in sand mining business.
A deputy superintendent of police investigating illegal stone-mining was killed on Tuesday when a truck he signalled to stop in Haryana's Nuh district drove into him, officials said.
In the last five years, 37 bridges have collapsed in Uttarakhand. Another 27 bridges are on the brink of collapse. 'Our politicians don't view these bridge collapses as a setback.' 'Rather they see them as an opportunity to make more money.'
The Union home ministry wants state governments to take proactive action against illegal mining as it has become a national security threat. In a recent meeting with the states, the home ministry said that windfall profits from such mining of minerals and sand were being used by the mafia to aid extremist elements.
The Supreme Court of India has ruled that it is mandatory to consider the twin conditions laid out in the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) when deciding bail applications in money laundering cases. The court emphasized the seriousness of the crime and the need to comply with the rigorous requirements of Section 45 of the PMLA, which includes giving the prosecutor an opportunity to oppose bail and ensuring that the court is satisfied that there are reasonable grounds to believe the accused is not guilty and unlikely to commit another offense on bail. The ruling was made in response to an appeal filed by the Enforcement Directorate against a Patna High Court order granting bail to an accused in a money laundering case. The Supreme Court found that the High Court had granted bail without properly considering the requirements of Section 45 and remanded the case back for a fresh review.
Amid demands by opposition parties to revoke her suspension, Indian Administrative Service officer Durga Shakti Nagpal has reported to the revenue board, sources said on Wednesday.
A woman who had suffered burns in the petrol bomb attack in Bogtui village in Birbhum district last week died in a hospital on Monday, raising the toll to nine, a police officer said.
"The day news of the SP-BSP top leadership meeting came out, the BJP government used the CBI and raids were conducted in an old mining scam and the news of quizzing Akhilesh Yadav was deliberately spread. Is it not an action to defame the SP-BSP alliance?" Mayawati said.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav on Thursday defended the suspension of IAS officer Durga Shakti Nagpal, claiming that action was taken against her for demolishing the wall of a mosque without consulting seniors and not for preventing illegal sand mining.
Uttar Pradesh is under the scanner again as that state IAS Association has taken on CM Akhilesh Yadav for the suspension of Durga Shakti Nagpal, who campaigned against the sand mafia
Besides Yadav, the CBI is likely to question Gayatri Prajapati, who was arrested in 2017 following a complaint of rape by a woman residing in Chitrakoot.
'Government officials use Gmail and ordinary phones without basic security consciousness.' 'Interoperability, especially in joint exercises with countries like the US, worries me.' 'It often means we open our systems to them, but they don't reciprocate.' 'They could have kill switches in their systems and might even be able to affect ours.'
"The DMK is not worried a wee bit," he said on the ED searches. Such an action by the ED was 'usual, ordinary and a drama' enacted to divert attention.
Unemployment, delivery of justice in desecration cases, illegal sand mining and drug menace are likely to be key issues in the Punjab assembly elections.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday said that the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, Bharatiya Janata Party and all the alliance parties will contest the upcoming Vidhan Sabha elections in Tamil Nadu together under the National Democratic Alliance. The significant political development comes ahead of the TN Assembly election to be held in 2026,
Replying to a question on the Enforcement Directorate raids at many places including at the premises of Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi's nephew, Sidhu slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Centre over the raids and said the ED took action after nearly four years of the registration of the case.
Family members of Bhadu Sheikh, the TMC panchayat leader whose killing on Monday is suspected to have sparked off the attack with petrol bombs on some 10 houses in Bogtui village on the outskirts of Rampurhat town, claimed that Sheikh's sons were among those arrested.
Congress leader Digvijaya Singh on Monday came down heavily on the Uttar Pradesh government over the suspension of a woman IAS officer, who had clamped down on illegal mining in the state.
Barely a year after the killing of young IPS officer Narendra Kumar, allegedly by a member of the mining mafia, an unsuccessful attempt to run over a trainee IAS officer posted at Sabalgarh in Madhya Pradesh was made by the sand mafia on Wednesday.
The mining mafia in the district allegedly tried to attack a senior woman officer when she opposed illegal mining of sand from the area.
According to an insider, "Winning is all that matters to the BJP. The leaders were warned that he was an undesirable character but they said look at his victory margin."
Four of the injured are personnel of UP police, two of them with gunshot wounds, the police said.
Adityanath alleged that illegal mining, including rampant extraction of sand, coal and forest resources, was flourishing under the protection of the ruling coalition, leaving Jharkhand hollowed out by mafia activities.
In an incident reminiscent of the murder of IPS officer Narendra Kumar, two members of a mining mafia on Wednesday allegedly tried to kill a police officer who was trying to stop a tractor-trolley carrying illegally mined sand.
Fifty-six days after she was summarily suspended by the Akhilesh Yadav government, Durga Shakti Nagpal, the young upright IAS sub-divisional magistrate of Greater Noida, was finally reinstated on Sunday.
