Araria/Ara, Apr 17 (PTI) A team of mining department officials was allegedly attacked by associates of the mining mafia in Bihar's Araria district on Thursday, police said.

They also forcibly took away a tractor trolley loaded with illegally mined sand which was seized by the officials.

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Superintendent of Police, Araria, Anjani Kumar told PTI, "The incident took place at Rampur when a team of mining department officials went there to check illegal mining activities. They also seized a tractor-trolley loaded with illegally mined sand. The officials were attacked by associates of the mining mafia….. and the accused forcibly took the seized tractor from the possession of officials and fled away."

"We are waiting for a formal complaint from the mining officials. Police action will immediately start after that, the SP said, adding preliminary reports suggest no one was injured in the incident.

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However, District Mining officer, Abhijit Kumar, told media persons that Mining Inspector Mohd Arman sustained injury in the incident. "We are in the process of filing a formal complaint with the police in this regard," he said.

Meanwhile, in another incident a 19-year-old auto driver was shot dead by unidentified armed miscreants at Bhuluhipur village near Ara, the district headquarters town of Bhojpur on Thursday.

The deceased has been identified as Golu (19).

Talking to PTI, Bhojpur SP, Raj, said, "Preliminary investigations reveal that he was shot from point-blank range. The exact cause of the incident is not known. A case has been registered and a manhunt has been launched to nab the accused."

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)