Chhatarpur: Crusher plant operator arrested after blast in stone quarry

Chhatarpur (Madhya Pradesh): The Khajuraho police of Chhatarpur district have arrested Ruchir Jain, operator of a crusher plant following an illegal stone quarry blast carried out by him in Dhanpura village on Wednesday. The blast caused turbulence in the area while a farmer’s house collapsed, the police said on Friday.

The police added that Harishchandra Pandey, the man who provided explosives to Jain, has also been taken into custody.

As per Khajuraho police, the arrested accused Jain used to operate a crusher plant in the village and carried out blasts in a stone quarry located next to the Lalitpur-Khajuraho-Singrauli railway line in Dhanpura village on Wednesday noon.

The officials said that the blast carried out by Jain was illegal as he used 4-inch-gunpowders instead of 2-inch-gunpowders for the process. The entire locality shook by the blast, which left railway line broken. The house of farmer Lakhan Patel, which was located close to stone quarry, collapsed.

Railway official Sanjeev Kumar approached police to register a complaint against Jain, alleging that the railways suffered a loss of Rs 80 lakh in the incident. The officials added that farmer Patel also incurred a loss of Rs 10 lakh following the incident.

Chhatarpur collector Sandeep GR had ordered a probe into the matter, after which the mining department officials inspected the spot to ascertain whether that the place where blasting was carried out was legal. The report has been sent to the collector, officials said.

Published on: Saturday, November 05, 2022, 12:31 AM IST