Varanasi: The Robertsganj police in Sonbhadra district busted a gang involved in preparing fake E-form C/MM-11 (mineral transport permit) and carrying out illegal mineral transport. The police arrested five members of the gang on Wednesday, while a search is on to nab three others. The police seized a laptop used in preparing the fake e-form, a LaserJet Pro printer, 748 sets of unused security paper, approximately 1,000 used e-form C/MM-11 (first copies) in 17 bundles, which were used in preparing fake permits, and other records and documents related to fake permit preparation and illegal mineral transport. According to reports, in the course of a campaign being run against illegal mining and illegal mineral transport in the district, on the basis of evidence obtained and information from an informer, vehicle driver Dilip Prajapati, a resident of Naugarh area of Chandauli district, was arrested and interrogated. During interrogation, Dilip disclosed the details. Those involved include Ashwani Kumar Patel, a resident of Pannuganj area of Sonbhadra district, Himanshu Pandey, Mohan alias Ajay Kumar, both residents of Chopan area of Sonbhadra district, and Suresh Kumar Pathak, a resident of Sarnath area of Varanasi district. Suresh is the proprietor of AK Enterprises, Billi Markundi. They prepared fake permits by changing the vehicle number, date and time etc in old e-form C/MM-11, and illegal transport of gitti (stone chips) was carried out through the same. A raid led by in-charge inspector Ramswaroop Verma of Robertsganj police station was conducted at the office located at AK Enterprises, Billi Markundi, from where Amarnath Tripathi alias Raju Tripathi, a resident of Jamalpur area of Mirzapur district, Ritesh Kumar Jaiswal, a resident of Chopan area of Sonbhadra district, Mohan alias Ajay Kumar and Santosh Kumar Jaiswal, a resident of Garhwa district of Jharkhand, were arrested on Wednesday. The search is on to arrest three members including Ashwani, Himanshu and Suresh.A case under sections 303(2), 317(2), 319(2), 318(4), 336(3), 338, 340(2), 61(2)(a) BNS and 4/21 Mines and Minerals Act and Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act was registered against them at Robertsganj police station.During interrogation, accused Dilip said that he is the driver of Ashwani’s vehicle (UP64AT5155). On Jun 22/23, Ashwani and his associates obtained old e-form C/MM-11 from AK Enterprises and got the vehicle number, date, time and other details changed in them through a computer, and on the basis of that same fake permit, gitti was loaded from Vindhyachal Stone, Billi Markundi, and given for transport. He also admitted that he was lured with Rs 5,000 for each trip, due to which he deliberately operated the vehicle using the fake permit. Ashwani, Himanshu and Mohan used to establish coordination with the mining area to get gitti loaded, arrange for transport and give instructions to vehicle drivers. Meanwhile, AK Enterprises proprietor Suresh and his employees Amarnath, Ritesh and Santosh used to provide old used e-form C/MM-11 and security paper, and with the help of laptop and printer, they changed the vehicle number, date, time and other necessary details in them, gave them the form of genuine permits and brought them back into use. During interrogation, it also came to light that the license of AK Enterprises was valid only until Jun 8, but even after the expiry of the licence period, by misusing the security paper and used permits issued in its name, fake e-form C/MM-11 continued to be prepared and illegal mineral transport continued to be carried out on their basis. Sonbhadra SP Abhishek Berma said that the campaign against illegal mining and illegal mineral transport is being continuously and effectively conducted by the district police. Police teams have been formed and necessary action is being taken for the arrest of the absconding accused.
