CBI begins probe into mowing-down of MP cop

The Central Bureau of Investigation began a probe on Thursday in connection with the death of police officer Narendra Kumar, allegedly by the sand mafia in the state. The CBI had registered a case of murder on Wednesday.

The young Indian Police Service officer was mowed down by a stone-laden tractor-trolley which he was trying to stop for a check on 8 March. The incident had sparked headlines nationwide, with Kumar's family alleging that he was fighting a lone battle against illegal quarrying, with no local support.

Acting on a tip-off, Narendra Kumar, sub-divisional police officer of Banmore industrial town, intercepted the tractor, which deliberately sped over him, crushing him to death. The driver was almost immediately arrested.

Banmore, the constituency of chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan of the Bharatiya Janata Party, is said to have become a hotbed for trade in illegally quarried stones, sand and gravel.

Following the furore caused by the incident, Chouhan wrote to the union government on Tuesday recommending a CBI investigation into the incident.

A CBI team headed by joint director R P Agarwal reached Morena district on Thursday and started investigations, along with experts from the Central Forensic Science Laboratory.