Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): A controversy has erupted following the seizure of a dumper allegedly loaded with illegal sand with its driver claiming that it belongs to the Agriculture Minister’s son. Minister Aidal Singh Kansana’s son, ‘Banku Bhaiya’, denied the claim on Friday, wondering why his name was being dragged into the controversy.
Only a week ago, Kansana had said Morena didn’t have a raet (sand) mafia but a paet (stomach) mafia. On the intervening night of Thursday-Friday, Morena forest department SDO Bhura Gaikwad said, his team was on patrol and was going towards Kailaras when they found a dumper loaded with sand.
The driver, Diwan Jatav, allegedly said he was transporting the sand from Chambal but had no supporting documents to corroborate his claim. The vehicle was seized and parked at the Kotwali police station premises. Gaikwad said Jatav was presented in court where he was sent to judicial custody.
He added that they had also written to the Transport department to find the owner of the truck which didn’t even have a number plate. Kotwali police station in-charge Dipendra Yadav also said they didn’t know who the truck belonged to; they only had its custody.
Jatav told the forest department and the media that the dumper belonged to Banku Bhaiya. Meanwhile, in a press statement, Banku Bhaiya said he did not know who owned the truck and that his name was deliberately brought up.
Reacting, Congress state president Jitu Patwari attacked the minister and the state government, saying, “The ministers of the BJP government are doing part-time politics, their mainbusiness is the transportation of illegal money.”
