Illegal Mining: Supreme Court Takes Cognizance On Forest Guard Killing In National Chambal Sanctuary Region

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): The Supreme Court on Thursday took cognizance of the alleged murder of a forest guard in the National Chambal Sanctuary region when he attempted to stop a tractor carrying illegally mined sand.

A bench of Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Sandeep Mehta took note of the incident based on an application filed by the amicus curiae in a suo moto case regarding illegal mining in the region. The matter will be heard next week.

As per reports, forest guard Harkesh Gurjar, 33, attempted to stop the tractor during a patrol, but he was run over by the vehicle and died on the spot. During the hearing, Justice Mehta noted that there have been some "very grave" incidents in the region.

The bench asked the counsel who mentioned the matter, Advocate-on-Record (AOR) Rupali Samuel, to file an affidavit bringing on record details of other incidents and serve advance notice on the counsel for Madhya Pradesh. Previously, the Supreme Court had commented that preventive detention law must be applied against the sand mafia.

Samuel informed Free Press, "The Supreme Court has taken cognizance on my petition which I filed in the SC suo moto case. The next hearing will be on April 13. The court has already given direction to all states to check illegal mining, so I raised the issue on the same grounds."