Distributor held for black marketing LPG cylinders to make a quick buck

The chief minister’s flying squad on Tuesday night arrested a Bhiwani resident for alleged illegal supply of domestic and commercial gas cylinders from Wazirabad and recovered 27 liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) cylinders from his possession

The chief minister’s flying squad on Tuesday night arrested a Bhiwani resident for alleged illegal supply of domestic and commercial gas cylinders from Wazirabad and recovered 27 liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) cylinders from his possession.

The suspect was arrested by a team of the CM flying squad and Sector 53 police before he could allegedly sell any of the LPG cylinders. He is alleged to have procured over 27 cylinders worth ₹2 lakh to sell them at inflated prices to sweets shops ahead of Diwali. (Representative image)

The suspect was arrested by a team of the CM flying squad and Sector 53 police before he could allegedly sell any of the cylinders. He is alleged to have procured over 27 cylinders worth ₹2 lakh to sell them at inflated prices to sweets shops ahead of Diwali.

The suspect, identified as Rajesh Kumar, was arrested from his rented house in Wazirabad, which he had turned into a godown to store the cylinders.

Harish Budhiraja, inspector, chief minister’s flying squad, said that they seized 22 LPG domestic cylinders and five commercial cylinders from the spot, a weighing machine, and related equipment. Kumar’s neighbours said they thought he was running a gas agency as regular supply was sent from the godown, the police said.

Budhiraja said Kumar was associated with an LPG agency but was not authorised to keep agency stock at home. “We found 182 LPG gas cylinders of his agency, which we did not seize as he had documents for them; but in the garb of the agency, he was also doing black marketing due to which he was under the scanner,” he said.

The police said that the illegal supply of LPG cylinders is rampant in the city, especially during festival season, at sweets shops and restaurants.

A case under sections 7 and 10 of the Essential Commodities Act was registered at Sector 53 police station on Tuesday night. Kumar was produced before a court on Wednesday and sent to 14-day judicial custody.