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A young officer of the Indian Police Service (IPS) was crushed to death by the illegal mining mafia in Madhya Pradesh’s Morena district, over 450 km from here.

Narendra Kumar (30), a 2009 batch IPS officer, was posted as a Sub-Divisional Police Officer at Banmore in Morena on probation.

According to reports, Mr. Kumar, tried to stop a tractor carrying illegally quaried stones, while on duty Thursday afternoon.

However, instead of stopping, the driver ran him over, DIG chambal range DP Gupta was quoted in the local press as saying. Mr. Kumar was rushed to the hospital but succumbed to his injuries on the way.

His wife, an Indian Administrative Service officer also posted in Madhya Pradesh (Gwalior), is currently on maternity leave.

The driver, identified as Manoj Gurjar, has been arrested under section 302 of the Indian Penal Code.Home Minister Uma Shankar Gupta, along with DGP Nandan Dube rushed to Gwalior to take stock of the situation.

As in several other districts of Madhya Pradesh, illegal mining is a thriving “industry” in Morena.

According to sources from Morena, the illegal mining of both sand and stone is carried out under protection from local politicians connected to Bhopal.

The opposition Congress has blamed the ruling BJP government’s protection to the mining mafia for its increasing audacity and the deterorating law and order situation.

“This young officer had taken the mining mafia head-on on several occasions but the illegal miners go about their business virtually fearless under the protection of the BJP,” said Manoj Pal Singh a Morena-based Congress worker who has filed a petition against illegal mining in the Madhya Pradesh High Court.

“Only last month, one of the mafia members -- a former zila panchayat president of Morena -- attacked a mining officer. The police charged him under section 307 for attempted murder but he wasn’t arrested. Some days later, a photograph in the district edition of Hindi newspaper showed him sharing stage with the BJP M.P. from Morena,” he told The Hindu.

“Most of the companies that have been awarded Reconnaissance Permits by the Madhya Pradesh mining department are front companies based in Kolkata with several BJP leaders as sleeping partners,” he alleged.