Rohtas superintendent of police Shivdeep Lande survived a suspected attack by the mining mafia when a speeding truck carrying stone chips hit a patrol vehicle in front of him on National Highway-2 near Dehri-on-Sone early Tuesday morning.

The police vehicle, near which the SP was standing, was badly damaged in the incident. The 2006-batch IPS officer, who was on his night vigil to check illegal transportation of stone chips from unauthorised mining units in the district, however, caught the driver of the truck after a chase.

The early-hour operation is a reminder to the incident that occurred with a young IPS officer, Narendra Kumar Singh, in Madhya Pradesh's Morena district in 2012.

Singh, a 2009-batch officer, had earlier served as additional SP in Bihar's Purnea before he was shifted to Madhya Pradesh, where his wife was posted as an IAS officer.

Giving information about the early morning drive, Lande said the police had laid a trap on National Highway-2 on the outskirts of Dehri-on-Sone sub-divisional town around 3.30am on Tuesday. A policeman signalled the driver of a truck to stop the vehicle but the latter ignored it and dashed against the patrol car parked there.

The SP said he immediately swung into action and caught the truck driver, who during interrogation revealed that he was asked by the vehicle owner not to stop the vehicle at any police checkpost come what may. "Even the SP-rank officer should not be spared if he tried to intercept the vehicle on the road," Lande quoted the driver as saying.

The driver identified as Yogendra Paswan told the police that they were paid additional money by the vehicle owners and those involved in illegal stone quarrying business for hassle-free transportation of stone chips. "Had we not been active, the driver would have entered the area falling under the jurisdiction of Aurangabad police," Lande added.

He said the operation was launched against illegal transportation of stone chips from unauthorised quarrying units under the leadership of Sasaram additional superintendent of police Sushant Kumar Saroj.