Stephen Kayyar

Daijiworld Media Network - Kasargod (MS)

Kasargod, Aug 19: Sand mafia is continuing its atrocities in the Manjeshwar Kundukolake area of the district. On Sunday, August 19, the gang of sand mafia entered a house at Anjare, created ruckus and brutally assaulted the inmates of the house.

The gang entered the house of Felix D'Souza on the afternoon of Sunday and assaulted him as well as his wife Rita D'Souza. Rita is seriously injured in the attack and is admitted to a hospital in Mangaluru. The gang attacked the couple with stones and wooden logs. After assaulting the couple, the gang damaged the window panes, furniture and other household items.

Illegal sand mining is going on at the Kundukolake beach area on a large scale. The locals had stopped the mining operation and handed over the goons to the police two days ago. However, the sand mafia has raised its ugly head once again. Rita D'Souza has filed complaint against five people of Kundukolake including Naufal and Monu.

Sand to a depth of two meter is dug illegally for a long distance at Anjare in Manjeshwar. More than 1,000 people living in around 300 houses in this area are under constant threat by the sand mafia. Though the locals had appraised this illegal activities to the police, no action was taken by the police.

The locals got outraged by the inaction of the police and had stopped the tipper trucks that were transporting the sand on the morning of Friday, August 16. The sand mafia, who got furious on stopping the trucks had attacked the locals with lethal weapons. In addition, the gang had broken the gate of a local resident and assaulted him. They also forcefully took four out of the five trucks that were stopped by the locals and also threatened the locals with dire consequence. The local residents had handed over the remaining one truck to the Manjeshwar police.