Banda, Jan 27 (IANS): Illegal mining in Uttar Pradesh's Banda district has led to a scuffle between two groups in which the "nephew" of the local BJP MLA has been beaten up.

The incident took place on Sunday night in Naraini.

Naraini station house officer SHO, Girindra Singh, said that Deepak (who claimed to be the nephew of MLA Raj Karan Kabir) was engaged in a scuffle. The SHO said that the matter was under investigation.

Deepak, who belongs to the Dalit community, has told reporters that he was beaten up by Chunnu Yadav and his men, when he stopped them from taking away sand from Mudarrimpur area.

Deepak said that Chunnu Yadav was involved in illegal mining in the Baghein River in the area since the past one month.

"On Sunday, I went to the river bank to take some sand for my personal use and Chunnu Yadav's men asked me to pay money. Later in the evening, I had gone to attend a function and Chunnu Yadav and his men came there and beat me up," Deepak said.

Chunnu Yadav has rebutted that the legislator's nephew was involved in illegal mining. He said that the local police was working under the influence of the BJP MLA.

The MLA could not be contacted despite several attempts.