DHANBAD/RANCHI: At least 12 miners are feared trapped in a caved-in illegal coal mine in Jamunia, around 40 km from Dhanbad district headquarters, with some feared dead, villagers and politicians said Wednesday.Police, administration and Bharat Coking Coal Ltd, however, said that so far they had not found any sign of mine collapse.The alleged incident snowballed into political brick-batting as both the governing and opposition parties attacked each other over the illegal mining menace in the coal belt, and in the state at large.“Twelve labourers are trapped while some others who managed to escape are undergoing treatment in private hospitals. Families of the trapped workers are being offered Rs 10 lakh as compensation. This is a racket where labourers are brought from other districts and used for illegal mining. After the mishap, the entry point was filled with mud to conceal the incident,” Giridih MP Chandra Prakash Chaudhary claimed.On the other hand, Jamshedpur West MLA Saryu Roy on Tuesday wrote on X, “At a place called Jamunia in Baghmara, Dhanbad, a tunnel used for illegal mining collapsed, resulting in the death of nine workers. The illegal mining mafia is engaged in disposing of the bodies of the deceased. I have informed #SSP#Dhanbad about this.” Talking to media, he held the local administration accountable. Dhanbad deputy commissioner Aditya Ranjan told PTI, “We have rushed an NDRF team to the spot suggested but so far no sign of any such incident has been found.” Dhanbad SSP Prabhat Kumar said that he had directed SDPO Baghmara to conduct a probe. Kumar, too, told PTI that “no trace of any such incident was found”. He added: “Additionally, no one from any side, including family members, turned up. So far, no formal complaint has been lodged from any side.”Regional nodal security officer of Bharat Coking’s block-2 project, Rajiv Ranjan, also said there was no information of any such incident in the block-2 project’s closed underground mine.Health, food & civil supplies and disaster management minister and Congress MLA Irfan Ansari, meanwhile, accused Bharat Coking of patronising illegal mining and demanded appropriate compensation.The state Congress attacked the Centre. “Security of mines is entirely managed by institutions like CCL and BCCL through CISF, which is directly under the Centre,” said spokesperson Sonal Shanti. BJP hit back demanding a CBI probe. “It’s state-sponsored deaths. The state govt and local administration are aware of illegal mining but choose to remain mum,” said spokesperson Pratul Shahdeo.