E-Paper
‘Excise officials’ steal ethanol-laden truck
On Monday, police arrested six men, including the one ‘mastermind’ Ranjeet Awasthi, from near Raitha Underpass in BKT
In an incident that can well inspire a Bollywood flick, several men masquerading as excise officials stole an ethanol-laden truck under the pretense of seizing it, in the Bakshi Ka Talab (BKT) area of Lucknow.
The incident took place in the early hours of Saturday. On Monday, police arrested six men, including the one ‘mastermind’ Ranjeet Awasthi, from near Raitha Underpass in BKT.
According to police, the accused pulled up before the truck in two cars.
A GPS tracker installed in the truck helped police trace it and lead them to the culprits. “Police have recovered the stolen truck, about 2,290 litres of ethanol that were taken out from it, an illegal 12 bore pistol and two live cartridges. The cost of recovered items is around ₹80 lakh,” said the deputy commissioner of police (North), adding that two cars were also recovered using both of it they arrived at the scene and used other to seize the ethanol.
Apart from Awasthi, 42, others arrested in the case were identified as Ramji Awasthi, 19, Monu Singh, 30, Mukund Shukla, 35, Abhay Singh, 30 and Ajit Yadav,18.
According to police, the driver of the truck, Arif Ali, somehow fled the spot after the truck was stolen. He went to BKT police station around 1 am to lodge a complaint.
According to Dr. Amol Murkut, the assistant commissioner of police, BKT said Ranjeet, a driver by profession who had lost his job a few months ago, had planned the incident.
