Udupi: Police arrested 22 persons from Uttar Pradesh for allegedly carrying out illegal sand extraction from the Varahi River and seized sand and equipment worth over Rs 11.5 lakh during a raid near Marattur in Molahalli village of Kundapur taluk.Acting under the guidance of DSP Belliyappa KU and Brahmavar circle inspector Gopikrishna, PSI Praveen Kumar R of Kota police station and his team conducted a raid at an open space near Sri Mahalingeshwara Temple at Marattur. The accused were found illegally extracting and stocking sand from the Varahi River.During the operation, police seized approximately 315 units of sand valued at Rs 8.5 lakh and 3 fibre boats worth Rs 3 lakh used for transporting sand, 6 iron spades with wooden handles valued at Rs 800, and eight fibre baskets valued at Rs 600 used for loading sand.The arrested accused are Devananda Shetty, Halnadu, Udupi; Amaresh, 7; Kripal,32; Parashuram,35; Prabeen,20; Ramcharan,35; Satrohan, 28; Ram Avatar,21; Bimalesh,23; Ramlal,40; Bola,23; Sanjay,27; Hiride Ram,27; Sarvan,21; Mukesh,24; Suraj,30; Neeraj,22; Kallu,19; Rajiv, 26, from Barabanki district, Lucknow; and Karan, 21; Prince,19; Kishun,19, from Koniya village, Gonda district, Uttar Pradesh.A case was registered at Kota police station under Sections 303(2) (theft) read with 3(5) (common intention of several persons to commit crime) of the BNS Act and Sections 4, 4(1A), and 21 of the MMDR Act.
