Forest officials on patrol duty were thrashed by sand mafia after they detained vehicles carrying sand and asked for Transit Permit and Royalty papers from the drivers, police said.
The incident took place late last night near compartment no 632 on Ajaypur-Temta road under Chandrapur Forest Division.
According to the complaint lodged at Ramanagar Police Station assistant conservator of forests Rajan Talmale, he was on patrol duty on Monday night with round officers, when they came across a couple of tractor-trolleys loaded with sand heading towards city on Ajaypur-Temta road.
The vehicles were stopped for checking the papers by the officials. As they were inquiring the credentials with the driver another vehicle reached the spot. The driver of the second dumper told that the necessary papers are with the owner and made a call to someone from his cell phone.
As the forest officials were inquiring the details about the spot of sand excavation, a jeep with eight men came and they allegedly assaulted the officials.
The accused also took away their cell-phones, in which the photographs of the vehicles with their registration numbers were taken and threw them away after taking out the SIM cards.
When the assailants left the spot, Talmale along with others reached nearby Range office at Chichpalli and made a call to the superiors apprising them of the incident. A complaint was lodged in the wee hours on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, delegation from Maharashtra State Forest Rangers Association, Maharashtra State Gazzetted Officers Union have demanded stringent action against the culprits.
They submitted memorandum to the office of the district collector here today.
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