AFTER three months, body of the tipper operator Anil Kushwaha was finally recovered from the mine. It may be recalled that a tragic accident occurred on October 11, 2025, at the closed Amlai open-cast mine in the SECL Sohagpur area under the jurisdiction of Dhanpuri police station in Shahdol district. Notably, a JCB and the tipper was drowned in this mine and its operator met watery grave.

 

After continuous dewatering efforts, the SDRF team, after much struggle, managed to retrieve the body, which had decomposed into a skeleton due to being submerged in deep water for a long time. The incident on October 11 occurred at the Amlai open-cast mine under SECL Sohagpur. During soil filling in the closed mine, a sudden landslide occurred, causing a dozer machine, a tipper truck, and tipper operator Anil Kushwaha of the RKTC contract company stuck in deep (muddy) water.

 

Two other employees were also injured in the accident. Following the incident, the Indian Army and local agencies conducted a rescue operation for several days, but due to millions of liters of water and mud in the mine, they were unsuccessful, and the agencies had terminated the rescue operation a month earlier. Months later, the Dhanpuri police registered a case against six officials of SECL and RKTC company for violation of the right to life and disregard of safety standards.

 

These include SECL’s Mining Sardar Ayodhya Patel, Senior Officer Neelkamal Rajak, Pan Engineer Prabhakar Singh, Supervisor Munish Yadav, and RKTC company’s Supervisor Sanjay Singh, along with one other. However, the family members and labor organisations allege that action has still not been taken against several influential officials.

 

Most shockingly, Anil Kushwaha’s death certificate was issued approximately two months before his body was recovered, while the post-mortem examination will now be conducted. The family members have also filed a petition in the Madhya Pradesh High Court regarding the entire matter, where the case is pending. The recovery of the body after three months has once again raised serious questions.