Five people were detained for taking illicit minerals from the Chakki River

Last night, the police made five arrests and confiscated three tippers, a JCB machine, and a poclain machine for illicitly removing minerals from the Chakki river near Damtal.

Dharambir, Shammi Bhardwaj, Deepak, Sanjeev, and Rakesh were named as the suspects.

The stone-crushing units based in the Damtal region were the owners of the confiscated equipment. The accused are the subject of a complaint filed under Sections 379 and 34 of the IPC as well as Section 21(1) of the Mines and Minerals Act.

Ashok Ratan, the Nurpur SP, said that an inquiry was underway to identify the owners of the confiscated equipment. He stated that three challans for illegal mining had been issued by the Damtal police yesterday, and they had collected Rs 14,700 as a fine from the perpetrators.

He said that the Nurpur police, taking a strict stance against illicit mining, had filed four cases, confiscated twenty-four vehicles, and outlawed the use of excavators in illicit activities over the previous three months.

The SP said, “In addition, 171 challans had been issued for illegal mining and Rs 15,74,400 had been recovered in fines during that same period.”