Patna, Jun 8 (IANS): An FIR was filed against a police officer in Bihar's Bhojpur district and two others on Monday for collecting illegal levy from sand-laden vehicles, police said on Monday.

Sahar SHO Anand Kumar and two others were allegedly involved in taking illegal levy from truck, tractors and other commercial vehicles passing the checkpost in Sahar area, Bhojpur's Superintendent of Police Rakesh Kumar Dubey said.

The Bihar government had allowed mining in the Sone river and given contracts to private companies. But the local mafias in the region were not allowing them to operate, and several companies had handed back the contracts midway.

As Sahar is situated on the banks of Sone, local sand mafia are active in the region on a large scale as the sand from Sone has a huge demand in the market.

"We have been receiving complaints about illegal activities in the region and some police personnel used to allow trucks and tractors laden with sand to pass. Accordingly, we have raided the place and arrested one person. We have also recovered Rs 762,300 from his possession," the SP said.

"During interrogation of the accused, he revealed that Sahar SHO Anand Kumar was directly involved in the illegal activity. The accused was operating in the region with the help of the SHO," Dubey added.