Bihta (Bihar), Oct. 19 — Some 40km away from bustling Patna, in the middle of a meandering Sone river, is the isolated riverine island of Amnabad-Katesar. A boat is the easiest way to reach the island that has a smattering of homes – some people travel to the island for agriculture, and return by nightfall. The island spans three police jurisdictions – Patna’s Bihta, 8km across the waters, is the largest – but police presence is rare, if ever.
It is not just farmers that populate Amnabad-Katesar. On October 3, in the shallow water, as far as the eye can see, are rows and rows of sophisticated earthmovers (or “JCB machines”, as they are referred to in India because of the brand’s market domination). The scene is a testament to a flourishing, illegal sand mining trade.
As HT boarded a wooden country boat to reach the island, the boatman spoke in hushed whispers – of an area where mining is rampant; where the police rarely enter; where the writ of the gun is law; and where for three days at the end of September, a deadly gunbattle left three bodies floating in the Sone, and one other that is yet to be traced.
For three straight days between September 27 and 29, the island witnessed vicious violence. So much so that the yellow sand was streaked with red bloodstains even four days later. The sound of gunfire is not unusual here, the boatman said, but this was different – conspicuous in its ferocity.
The gunfight and the mafia
At 3pm on September 27, labourer Radheshyam Kewat, who works on a boat, first heard the sound of gunfire. “For the last two months, firing was being heard from the area every week, but from September 27 onwards, it lasted day and night and stopped only on September 30,” he said.
As the first shots rang out, Radheshyam hid in his boat, docked on the banks of the river. For a few hours, this is where he cowered, and then, as darkness fell and there was an interlude of silence, he rowed away, hoping that he would not be caught in the crossfire.
In Amnabad, standing next to Kewat is Munarik Mahto, a resident of the village, and like everyone else, well versed with the gangs that operate in the area. Mahto said that for the past few years, the river banks have been under the control of the mining gang of Umashankar Rai, alias “Sipahi ji” .
Rai, 52, has been in Beur jail for the past four years, arrested on murder charges on June 16, 2018. He faces over 14 criminal cases across the districts of Patna, Saran, and Bhojpur. A senior police officer admitted that while numbers were difficult to pinpoint, Rai may have as many as 500 people working for him, even when in prison. “We are verifying his links. The government is trying to regulate mining activity, but if some people try to take matters in their own hands, it will be dealt with sternly,” the officer said, requesting anonymity.
From early September, Mahto said, Rai’s group was challenged on their turf by the “Fauji” group, once led by gangster Shankar Dayal Singh, who was found dead on the river banks of Revelganj in Saran district with multiple knife injuries on April 14, 2019 . The gang, with the moniker “Fauji” because Singh worked in the army before turning to a life of crime, is now led by his second-in-command Shatrughan Rai, who faces 15 criminal cases. “Following Singh’s murder, Shatrughan Rai took over the reins and has led the gang against the “Sipahi ji” gang. He once extorted money from sand-laden boats, but joined the “Fauji” gang a few years ago. Since then, they have fought for control on the banks,” a senior police officer said (same officer as above?).
The build-up
Locals said that between September 15 and 25, the seeds of the conflict were sown, with both gangs setting fire to at least 30 Poclain machines (what machines?) that belonged to the other.
“We knew things would escalate. Setting fire to equipment was the last straw, as without it, mining is not possible. Shatrughan Rai’s “Fauji” group came prepared to take control of the ghat, which led to a fierce gang war. The other side – Sipahi ji” Umashankar Rai’s gang – was prepared too, and a gunbattle ensued. They were using heavy weapons, which we cannot identify. All we could do was pray and wait for the firing to stop to find safe passage. Some took shelter by lying in the fields, others got inside their boats,” Mahto said.
Police officers claim that they were fired upon. But locals allege that police reached the site only on September 29 at around 2.30pm, six hours after the firing ended.
“They came with a 50-member contingent after so much time, and asked for all the equipment to be removed from the area overnight,” said Jagdeep Paswan, a resident of Katesar.
When HT visited the area on October 3, some skeletal remains of the burnt equipment were visible, while others were hidden in nearby orchards, loaded on trucks, or dumped in shallow water.
The aftermath
The first task before Patna Police was to identify and find out if any deaths happened in the firing, with information at a premium. On the first day, a body was found from the river near Panchrukhia of Koilwar police station in Bhojpur district, and was identified as that of 28-year-old Vimlesh Singh from Bhojpur. His grandfather Veermani Singh, 65, said that there was an effort to hide his body by the “sand mafia” by taking it away on a boat.
“If police press sniffer dogs at the spot where he died, and where there are blood marks, more bodies will be recovered,” Veermani Singh alleged. Police officials, however, denied these allegations and said they thoroughly scanned the area.
Two days later, the body of Laldeo Rai was found from the NIT ghats in Patna at around 12:30pm on October 1. Dilip Rai, Laldeo’s brother, said they were residents of Byapur village and had gone across the river to fetch milk at around 5am. “When he did not return by his usual time of 10am, we got apprehensive,” he said. Laldeo, his family said, was not part of the gangs operating in the area.
Floating next to Laldeo’s body was the body of Lalendra Singh from Nalanda. Police officers said both these bodies had firearm injuries.
“He was a truck driver and also did sand loading work. On September 29, he had said he would meet me at 11am but his phone was switched off,” said his brother Manish.
Significantly, the one person police have identified as still missing is 55-year-old “Fauji”, gang leader Shatrughan Rai. His daughter Sandhya Devi said he left his Goraiyasthan home in Maner in the early hours of September 29, but did not return. “He had two boats with him. I think he also fell to bullets,” she said.
But, according to labourer Bishnu Singh, the problem is collusion. “Had the police tried to identify the owners of the equipment, things would have been different. Such mining cannot go on without political and administrative patronage,” he said.
Patna senior superintendent of police MS Dhillon said, thus far, two FIRs were lodged, with five people arrested. He said that Patna Police took the “incident very seriously” and sent a proposal to the district administration to set up joint check posts comprising police personnel, transport and mining department employees in the riverine belt of Bihta and Maner. “Thirty policemen have been deployed in Amnabad village and raids are on with the help of the STF against the accused. Such lawlessness will not be tolerated,” he said.
“As the area is inaccessible, there can be some delay and gang members take advantage of the topography. Now there will be round-the-clock police presence.”
Illegal mining
Though the floodplains on the banks of the Sone offer fertile soil for agriculture, with fields of wheat, barley and pulses visible across a 500-acre stretch, illegal sand mining gathers momentum during the three monsoon months between July and September, when the activity is prohibited by order of the National Green Tribunal (NGT). In 2015, NGT directed the Union environment ministry not to grant environmental clearance for sand mining in the rivers in north India. In Bihar, this order was implemented with a bar on sand mining on riverbeds between July 1 and September 30.
Apart from these three months, the mining department issues licences, Bihar government officials said.
“However, the mafia carry out mining on the sly even during the prohibited period. The government has been trying to check it, but the inaccessibility of the area is a hindrance, and they take risks. We seize vehicles and equipment every year, but they re-emerge constantly,” said a mining department official.
When HT visited the spot at around 7.30am on October 3, there were at least 50 sand-laden boats plying in the river, bathed in the light of an early sun.
Bishnu Singh, a local labourer, said, “Sand was sold at Rs.4,500 per 400 cubic feet in 2011-12. It was cheap and easily available. But today it is selling close to Rs.35,000- Rs.37,000 per 400 cubic feet. With the stakes much higher, there is rampant illegal mining, which draws gangsters.”
Senior mining department officials said that normal mining licenses issued for the island are worth around Rs.350 crore plus 31% tax. During the monsoon though, with the mining illegal, there is little exact estimate. “The stakes may even be higher, which bring the mafia into play,” said Subhash Singh, a contractor.
Larger problem
Experts said they have been consistently beseeching the state government to take action, and put an end to the rampant sand mining.
Vaishno Devi University (Jammu) vice-chancellor RK Sinha, who was awarded the Padma Shri for his work on river ecology, said, “Sand should be lifted only from dry places and shallow river stretches must be avoided. But in the Sone and other rivers, mining is done exactly from these points.”
Sameer Kumar Sinha, head of the Species Recovery Division at the Wildlife Trust of India, said sand mining from an active channel affects its behaviour, increases bank erosion and reduces replenishment.
“Bottom sand, especially close to the banks, provides habitat to several bottom-dwelling biological organisms. An alteration in this adversely affects the productivity of the ecosystem. The river sediment also serves as a sink for pollutants, especially heavy metals. When there is sand mining, these heavy metals are dispersed in the aquatic environment and chances of them entering the food-chain increase manifold, affecting not only aquatic life but also human beings who consume fish,” Sinha said.
Geology and mining minister Dr Ramanand Yadav said the government would move to stop illegal mining. “I have asked my department to coordinate with the authorities concerned to stop this, or face the consequences,” Yadav said.
For local resident Radheshyam, the consequences of the illegal mining are in the here and now. Every day, he says a little prayer as he mounts his boat and crosses the Sone, braving both the river and the lawlessness of the island. One day, he hopes, that journey will impose less fear in his heart. “We hope that day comes. A day when our crops of pulses, maize and paddy stretch out as far as the eye can see, and we can tend to them without the fear of being caught in the middle of a gang war.”
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