Raid Against Sand Mining Kengeri by Rise UP For Rights, Bangalore

It was a calm winter morning until our team and geology department caught some workers who were illegally mining sand at Kengeri. And we got them arrested. The events of sand mining have been happening for a long time. One of our volunteers, Hemanth, was keenly observing the smuggling which was happening. And according to him, the accused was taking sand on the banks of the Vrishabavati river, Kengeri. Usually, the smugglers used to withdraw sand at night and smuggle them during the early morning hours.

Our team contacted the police on 7th December 2021 and pleaded to arrest them. But the opposite party interfered with their power then the police did not do anything about it. A week went by we attempted to reach the police again. The police responded and asked us to reach out to the Geology Department instead. On 15th December, with a few Geology department members, our team reached the site around 7 in the morning. We saw some workers in the water and used some tools to extract the sand. Then they took that black sand with their hands to the truck parked near the river. Some of them saw us and managed to escape by swimming across the river to another side. Luckily, we managed to catch one of them, and he is Kumar. We caught him near the truck and made sure that he didn't escape. 

Soon after, the police arrived at the place, arrested the accused, and seized the tractor. Mr KG Chandrasekhar, one of the Geologists from the Mining and Geology Department, stated that they got to know that such unlawful things were happening because of our team's efforts and information. The Geologist complained to the Kengeri police. Later, the truck driver and owner, Manjunath, managed to blame the workers who were working for him. With the help of a few senior officers, they turned the complaint into a case and proceeded to court with the accused, Kumar. Kumar gave the names of the other three people involved in this with him. They filed a private case in ACMM court, and the investigation is still going on.

Our Action Highlighted in News: https://bangaloremirror.indiatimes.com/bangalore/crime/in-pursuit-of-sand-thieves-of-kengeri/articleshow/79980900.cms