Sand mafia threatens govt team, empties truck on road

Ahmedabad: A late-night check on Saturday against illegal sand transportation near Makarba turned tense after suspected members of a sand mafia allegedly obstructed govt officials, used abusive language and threatened them with life before fleeing the spot, Sarkhej police said. Kiran Parmar, 31, a contractual employee with the geology and mining department, who was on duty when the incident occurred, filed a complaint on Sunday.In his complaint, Parmar, with the department since Sep 2025, said that he, mines supervisor Akshatkumar Ladani, driver Mayur Vanda, and security guard Ashirvad Sadata, were conducting checks on check illegal mining, transportation, and storage of minerals on Saturday night. Around 11pm, while the team was near One Mall Circle on Makarba Road, they spotted two yellow dumpers coming from the Juhapura side. Their drivers were asked to pull over and the team found each dumper loaded with around 30 metric tonnes of sand. Police have been given the registration number of one vehicle; the other had no visible number plate, the complaint states.The drivers failed to produce the mandatory royalty passes or permits for the sand, and allegedly refused to disclose their names, claiming that the vehicles belonged to a man named Suresh Bharwad of Piplaj village. Parmar then boarded one of the dumpers and directed the driver to drive to Sarkhej police station. Instead of complying, the driver headed towards the Makarba headquarters area. A Seventh Heaven building, a man armed with a stick stopped both dumpers and instructed the drivers to unload the sand on the road. The drivers did as told, causing an obstruction. The man later identified himself as Suresh Bharwad. The FIR states that Bharwad forcibly asked Parmar to get down from the vehicle, abused the officials in public, and threatened to kill them before fleeing the spot with the other two and the dumpers.