Mangaluru : Mines and geology, deputy director has been suspended from the department as charges of allegedly involving with sand mafia.

Sumithra S, deputy director of the department, has been suspended pending inquiry for releasing seized trucks without registering cases against their owners.

According to sources, those involved in the sand mafia used to put intense pressure using political influences on officials from the department of mining and geology in order to get their seized vehicles released. Not only this, they also used to produce fake letterheads from religious institutions stating that the sand seized by officials in various cases, was being transported to these institutions for construction purposes.

There have been several examples of political leaders directly summoning officials to act soft against the sand mafia. Sumitra is said to be one such official, who allegedly succumbed to political pressure and got mired in a controversy.

The Dakshina Kannada district administration had ordered a blanket ban on sand extraction from June 1 until new licences were issued. Officials from the departments of forest, revenue and police, in addition to mines and geology, cracked the whip on several cases of illegal sand mining during this period and seized 15 trucks.

As the department of mines and geology is the official authority to act in cases pertaining to sand mining, the district administration issued it a direction to file cases against the owners of the seized trucks and bring all the accused in the cases to book. However, the department is alleged to have handed the vehicles back to owners without booking any cases against them, but by only by collecting fines.

On learning about the developments in January, deputy commissioner Sasikanth Senthil S recommended an inquiry against Sumithra. The department of mines and geology, which has undertaken an inquiry, has suspended the official.

A senior official in the department, Padmashri, has been made the interim in-charge.