Udupi : Alok Mohan, Additional Director-General of Police (Law and Order), said on Monday that the police would take more intensified action against sand mafia in Udupi district.

Addressing presspersons after holding a review meeting of police officers at the District Police Office here, Mr. Mohan said that the police had taken a serious note of the assault and attempt to murder Deputy Commissioner Priyanka Mary Francis, Assistant Commissioner Shilpa Nag and Village Accountant Kantharaj, when they conducted a raid on a sand extraction site at Kandlur near Kundapur.

The police had arrested seven persons in this connection. As soon as Superintendent of Police K.T. Balakrishna received the information about the incident, he dispatched a team of policemen to the area.

To a query, he said that though Ms. Francis could have taken the police with her, she decided to do a spot visit herself as a good Deputy Commissioner and District Magistrate would.

Normally people in Udupi and Dakshina Kannada districts respected officials. Hence, there were no issues in Halnadu village, where Ms. Francis had raided a sand extraction site. But it was in Kandlur that the incident of attempt of murder took place. The police had taken this matter seriously, he said.

As regards other policing measures, it had been decided to improve the beat system by making the head constables and police constables in charge of designated areas in the district.

Hence, the number of beats in any police station would be equal to the number of head and police constables it had. This would help the constables develop close relation with the people and improve community policing.

Henceforth, the police would book those involved in gambling and illegal sand extraction under the Goonda Act.

Drop boxes would be kept in schools and colleges so that students could lodge their complaints without writing their names.

Police officers had been instructed to go to schools and colleges and interact with students so that they kept away from drugs, Mr. Mohan said.

Mr. Balakrishna (Superintendent of Police) and N. Vishnuvardhana, Additional Superintendent of Police, were present.