Sand lorry driver tries to run over tahsildar's jeep

The driver of a lorry transporting sand illegally attempted to ram his vehicle into a tahsildar’s jeep, when he was flagged down by the patrol party near Byalahunasi village of Hoovinahadagali taluk in Ballari district on Tuesday night.

Tahsildar H Vishwanath and officials of the Revenue department were patrolling the banks of Tungabhadra river when they spotted the sand-laden lorry with registration number KA-27/0597.

The tahsildar, who was in his official jeep, intercepted the lorry. However, the lorry driver attempted to ram his vehicle into the jeep. The jeep driver managed to swerve the vehicle and thus saved the lives of the men on patrol. Though the lorry was chased later, the driver escaped under the cover of darkness, abandoning the vehicle in the middle of the road.

Vishwanath told Deccan Herald that Hirehadagali police had seized the lorry and a complaint would be lodged on Thursday. Sub-inspector Govindaraj said steps would be taken to arrest the owner and driver of the vehicle once the complaint was received.

Vishwanath took over as tahsildar last month. In his drive against sand mafia, he has seized more than 15 tractors and four lorries transporting sand illegally in the last one week.