UP mining official ‘tracked’ by mining mafia

Shamli : A District Mining Officer (DMO) has claimed that he is being “tracked” by the mining mafia in Uttar Pradesh’s Shamli.

DMO K. Vashishth Yadav has filed an FIR against an ‘unknown gang’, comprising 116 members of a WhatsApp group who would share his current location and movements.

This would give the mining mafia time to wind up operations and flee.

Yadav said: “Recently, I was near the Yamuna river bank in Kairana when I saw a man moving suspiciously and talking to someone on phone and looking at me. His behaviour was not normal and, hence, I called him and asked him to show me his phone. He handed me the phone but panicked and fled the spot. When I surfed the phone, I found out that my location was being shared on a regular basis.

“My location and movement used to be shared on a WhatsApp group, having 116 phone numbers. The phone belongs to a person named Mohd Sufiyan. He had also recorded an audio clip that announced my location and then shared it with the group.”

Kairana SHO Anil Kaparwan, said: “On the basis of the complaint of the mining officer, a case has been registered under IPC section 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty) and under relevant sections of the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act against the owner of the phone and the admin of the WhatsApp group. The matter is being investigated, and we are trying to verify the phone numbers in the WhatsApp group.