A man who was arrested for assaulting a police officer while the latter tried to stop an incident of illegal sand mining, has been remanded in judicial custody.

Sadique Pasha, a resident of Villath Nagar, who was one of the four attackers, was arrested at 11 pm on Friday. Police are currently tracking another attacker, Anwar, and said that they are yet to ascertain the identities of the other two attackers.

The incident took place after residents of villages near Arahalli tank, on the outskirts of the City, complained to Deputy Commissioner (DC) on October 11 about illegal sand mining. They sought legal action against the sand mafia thriving in the area.

When DySP Srihari Baragur, tahsildar Venkatesh Murthy, and revenue inspector Nagaraj, visited the tank, they came upon two tractors and a lorry without licence plates. Four men could be seen operating the vehicles and were busy lifting sand from the tank bed.

As the inspection team attempted to arrest the four men, they were violently mobbed by hundreds of residents from a neighbouring village, Mombadi. The mob dispersed after more police officers were called.

The four miscreants, however, escaped, although police confiscated the two earth movers and the lorry.