Gurugram: Three held for pilfering petrol and diesel from fuel tankers

The chief minister’s flying squad on Thursday arrested three people for allegedly stealing fuel from oil tankers on Sohna-Palwal road over the last few months

The chief minister’s flying squad on Thursday arrested three people for allegedly stealing fuel from oil tankers on Sohna-Palwal road over the last few months. The gang allegedly sold the fuel at cheaper rates and earned nearly ₹10 lakh a month, said police.

Gurugram: Three held for pilfering petrol and diesel from fuel tankers

Following a tip that fuel was being pilfered from oil tankers, police said they kept a close watch on tankers plying on the route and noticed that the vehicles would make an unscheduled stop next to a dhaba, which was shut for many months.

During a search at the dhaba around 9am on Thursday, police found the owner of the dhaba and his employees kept empty drums, each with a capacity to store 200 litres of fuel.

A police team allegedly seized seven drums of fuel (about 1,400 litres) from the suspects. Police said gas was also allegedly stolen from LPG gas cylinders kept in trucks, which were scheduled for delivery in Sohna and Palwal. Police said they recovered three filled and 20 empty commercial gas cylinders. Two pipes measuring 10ft and 15ft long with burners and nozzles were also recovered, said police.

Inderjeet Yadav, deputy superintendent of police (DSP) with the chief minister’s flying squad, said the driver and co-driver of a truck and a helper at the dhaba were arrested from the spot. Police booked the dhaba owner, who is allegedly on the run.

“The gang was involved in this illegal activity for the last six months. During questioning, the suspects revealed they were also in touch with drivers of vehicles carrying LPG gas cylinders, which were used for filling commercial cylinders that were sold to dhaba owners at half the price,” said Yadav.

Harish Budhiraja, an inspector with the CM flying squad, said, “The top seal of the trucks was not tampered. The suspects stole fuel by tampering with the joint of the tankerand drained nearly 400 litres of fuel at a time from each truck.”

The suspects would sell petrol at ₹70 per litre and diesel for ₹65 per litre to drivers, who parked their vehicles on highways and also to motor mechanics in Sohna, Mewat, Palwal and Gurugram, said police.

Budhiraja said when they inspected the dhaba, the suspects tried to pass off the drums as water containers.

Police said oil tankers have a capacity of 24,000 litres and the suspects drew out only a small amount. This went unnoticed by the oil company. “We will be questioning the senior officials and other drivers of the company. It is not possible that no one was aware of this racket,” said Budhiraja.

A case under sections 420 (cheating), 379 (theft) and 34 (common intention) of the IPC and sections 7, 10 and 15 of the Essential Commodities Act was registered against the suspects at Sohna City police station on Thursday.

Earlier in August last year, the CM flying squad arrested three people for allegedly stealing fuel from oil tankers on the Sohna-Tauru road. Police said they were stealing oil with the help of drivers and distributed the money among six gang members. The gang allegedly sold the fuel at cheaper rates and earned somewhere around ₹13 lakh a month.