Police officials of Bihar and neighbouring Jharkhand are at loggerheads over the arrest of Punj Singh, allegedly a close associate of illegal sand mining kingpin Subhash Yadav, from Dhanbad's Jharia police station area on Thursday.

Punj was arrested on the basis of a tip-off. But Jharia police released him on a personal bond from the police station, turning down Patna police's request to hand him over for questioning.

At least three cases were lodged against Punj with the Bihta and Digha police stations for his alleged involvement in illegal sand mining in the district. Arrest warrants were issued against Punj in two cases and the investigation officer had approached the court for issuing a warrant in a third case as well.

"I was taken aback by the Jharia police's attitude," Patna senior superintendent of police (SSP) Manu Maharaaj, who played a key role in the arrest, said on Friday. "They should have handed over the accused to our team for the 24-hour interrogation. They didn't do so for reasons known to them. This is simply disgusting."

Unhappy with non-cooperation from the Jharia (read Dhanbad) police, SSP Maharaaj lodged a protest with the inspector-general (Patna zone) Nayyar Hasnain Khan, who, in turn, took the matter up with his Jharkhand counterpart Murari Lal Meena. Meena, (a 1993 batch IPS officer), however, assured disciplinary action against the erring cops.

Inspector-general (IG) Khan said it was not a complex issue but a matter of cooperation. "Jharia police provided the accused ample time to produce a local court's no-coercive action order," Khan said. "While the court had issued orders restraining police from taking coercive action in two cases, there was no order from the court to take action in the third case lodged in Patna."

Khan said he would apprise senior police officials of the neighbouring state (Jharkhand) on the matter and request them to check reoccurrence of such incidents. Khan, who is monitoring the police drive against illegal mining, said on Friday that stern action had been initiated against half a dozen big sand smugglers operating in the region.

At least 50 persons have been booked and machines used in illegal mining seized during the special drive launched in areas falling under the jurisdiction of Patna and Bhojpur and a few more districts.

Khan said the issue would be taken up with higher-ups in the Jharkhand police if SSP Maharaaj desired so.

Last month, Patna police had cooperated with Jharkhand police in the arrest of an accused from Paliganj police station area.