Banka, Dec. 7: The recovery of the body of Mohammad Mustafa (35), a munshi working with a sand contractor at Nandagola Balu Ghat near Jharkhand border on Sunday, has brought back memories of conflicts between the sand mafia in the district.

Villagers said conflicts over the demand for high-qualityx sand between two rival groups of the mafia resulted in the murder of Mustafa, a resident of Kamalpur village under Sonhaula police station in Bhagalpur district. The deceased’s family members, along with the villagers, staged an hour-long blockade on Bheramore-Godda (Jharkhand) road in protest against the incident on Sunday. The blockade was lifted around 8.30pm following intervention of Dhoriya block officials.

According to Dinesh Poddar, the Dhoriya police station house officer, the cops recovered Mustafa’s body on the banks of the Garua. A sand labourer from Pacchukitta in Godda, Mohammad Farque, was found in a critically injured condition and was sent to the district for treatment.

Sources said the Changuri Mandal (Sadhopur) and Esho Yadav (Tarar) gangs have been on a face-off over levy collection from sand contractors operating on the Garua riverbed. Apart from Nandagola Balu Ghat, other gangs are active as various sand excavation points on the riverbed at Sonhula (Bhagalpur), Dhoriya (Banka) and Hanwara (Godda). “Dozens of incidents in which the gangs exchanged fire against one other were reported in the past two weeks,” a villager said, preferring anonymity.

The areas once gained notoriety in the early-80s and 90s over rights of balu ghats (sand excavation points) in the areas. The gangs of gangsters like Suman Singh and Nand Kishore Singh (both from Bhagalpur) used to hold sway over sand excavation points, resulting in many killings. “The petty criminals, once attached with the former sand mafia, started their own operations,” claimed a former member of the Suman Singh gang.

Siyaram Gupta, the Dhoriya circle inspector of police, however, said no one has complained to the police about such incidents. He added that police patrolling has been intensified in the areas and raids were going on to nab the criminals.

Sand from over than five dozen excavation points from the beds of small rivers and streams have a great demand in outside market. “The high quality of sand available at Banka is mainly because of small rivers and streams which pass through valleys and rocky places. Such sand is ideal for construction work,” said Rajesh Jha, a sand contractor at Banka. Jha supplies sand to distant places like Siliguri in Bengal and lower Assam.

Last year, the Banka district administration closed Kulharia balu ghat under Amarpur police station following the killing of a contractor, Monoj Paswan of Basudeopur. In 2008, another contractor, Mohammad Sukhar of Dumrama was killed by criminals. According to police records, dozens of killings reported from such places over the past five years were the fallout of gang rivalry among sand mafia.

Residents near the balu ghats have protested against such incidents earlier too.

“Villagers staged a 10 day fast-unto-death to stop sand excavation from Singhnan balu ghat under Rajoun block in the district in 2008. Because of a month-long protest by villagers at Sahebganj balu ghat under Belhar block in 2010 and April 2011, the district administration was compelled to cancel the lease for the balu ghat,” said Pradeep Kumar, a social activist at Banka. He said villagers living near such balu ghats have to take to agitation to counter rising criminal activities and to prevent ecological disorders because of rapid extraction of sand from the riverbeds.