19-year-old laborer dies while illegally mining sand in Kota, Rajasthan

A 19-year-old labourer died while three others were injured after a sand dune collapsed while they were illegally mining sand, the police said Friday. The incident occurred on Thursday afternoon when the deceased Sampat Banjara and some others were engaged in mining sand at a spot about 10 km away from their village, sub-inspector Kanwas police station Ramesh Kumar said.

While Sampat died on the spot, three others were injured. Two of them were discharged after first aid. The body was handed over to family members on Thursday evening after post-mortem, he added.

A case has been registered and two contractors -- Satyanarayan Malav and Satyanarayan Nagar --have been booked under section 304 (punishment for culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of Indian Penal Code (IPC), Kumar said. On Friday, family members of the deceased held a protest at the cremation ground demanding compensation from the government and refused to perform the last rites if their demands were not met, police said. However, officials later convinced them to perform last rites.