Slain MP cop was fighting a lone battle, says father

The father of Narendra Kumar, the young Madhya Pradesh police officer who was deliberately run over by a tractor laden with stones on Thursday, said his son was the victim of a well-planned conspiracy by the state's quarrying mafia.

Keshav Dev Singh further alleged that his son Narendra Kumar did not get cooperation from the local police in his efforts to stop illegal quarrying.

''He stopped vehicles carrying stones for check. Is it the job for an IPS (Indian Police Service) officer, or the job of thana-level [local] police?" Keshav Dev wondered.

"I can't believe he would be out on a routine patrol on a festival day like Holi. If law enforcement agencies had acted, this incident would not have happened. It was clearly a well-planned conspiracy. I had told him to be careful ... if the local police was supporting him, this would not have happened," he said.

Narendra Kumar was posted as sub-divisional police officer of Banmur town in the Morena district of the state, in the Chambal area whose criminal elements have almost become legend, largely thanks to a number of Bollywood movies based on 'Chambal dacoits'.

Banmur has now emerged as a hotbed for trade in illegally quarried stones and gravel.