A block land and land reforms officer (BL & LRO) and three employees of his department were assaulted by youths allegedly associated with illegal sand mining in North Dinajpur district on Wednesday.

Gour Soren, the BL & LRO of Karandighi block, and others who got injured, are under treatment at Raiganj Government Medical College and Hospital (RGMCH). Police are searching for the attackers.

Sources said that over the past few days, Soren was receiving information that some people were illegally drawing sand from some rivers and rivulets flowing through the block.

Usually, the state government leases out specific portions of the riverbed through auctions and earns royalty from the extraction of minor minerals like sand, boulders and pebbles. However, across north Bengal, illegal mining rackets, which take away such items without paying royalty to the state, are active.

“Based on specific information, we reached the block's Jhaparatol area. We visited some riverbeds. On the way, we spotted a truck with sand. We intercepted the truck and sought documents from the driver to prove that the sand had been legally extracted,” said Soren.

But the driver failed to produce any document, Soren said.

Then, the BL & LRO called the truck’s owner and asked him to come to the spot.

“After some time, five youths reached there on bikes. They asked why we stopped the truck and started indiscriminately beating us up with rods and sticks. Some residents intervened and rescued us,” the official, who suffered a head injury, added.

From the village, they were rushed to the RGMCH for treatment.

The police were informed. A team from Karandighi police station visited the area. “We are in search of attackers who fled the spot,” said a police officer.