Two men steal 124 litres of diesel in 13 mins from parked BMTC bus in Bengaluru: Report

In a swift and audacious operation, two men siphoned over 120 litres of diesel from a parked BMTC bus in Bengaluru at a fuel station at night-time.

In a daring late-night theft, two unidentified men managed to drain more than 120 litres of diesel from a Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) bus in under 15 minutes at a fuel station in Rampura village last week.

The theft, captured on CCTV, revealed a calculated approach wherein two unidentified men in Bengaluru used a pipe and siphoned fuel from a parked BMTC bus at a fuel station.

The bus, attached to BMTC’s Mandur depot (Depot 47), had completed its final run on the Rampura-KR Market route on December 1, said a report by The Times of India. As per routine, driver Shivappa MS, 36, and conductor Manjunath BC parked the vehicle on the fuel station premises after 11 pm and went to sleep inside.

Around 2:30 am on December 2, a Tata Indica drove into the premises. CCTV footage later revealed the two occupants lingering near the bus, watching the crew closely. One of them even walked up to the vehicle, peered inside, and confirmed the staff were asleep.

Within minutes, the duo broke open the diesel tank’s lock. Using a pipe, they siphoned out the fuel and filled several plastic cans kept in their car. By 2:43 am, they had fled the scene with approximately 124 litres of stolen diesel, the report said.

According to investigating officers, the fuel station shutters down at 11 pm, and its staff sleep in quarters behind the office until operations resume at 6 am, a window the thieves seem to have exploited.

Unaware of the theft, Shivappa and Manjunath woke up around 4:30 am and resumed their schedule. But as the bus approached Halasur, it suddenly stalled. When they contacted the depot, they learned the vehicle had been filled with over 124 litres of diesel the previous day. Suspecting foul play, the duo returned to the Rampura station, reviewed CCTV footage, and filed a police complaint on December 3.

The stolen fuel is valued at roughly ₹11,000. Avalahalli police have registered a case under Section 303 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and are attempting to identify the culprits. However, the grainy footage has made it difficult to trace the car’s registration number or clearly identify the men involved, the report noted.

HT.com has not independently verified the authenticity of this information.