Police bust diesel theft racket, 11 booked

Mumbai police have caught a gang illegally selling diesel from a tanker near Chandra Hotel in Sewri. All 11 accused have been booked under relevant sections of the Essential Commodities Act. The police suspect it’s a gang that sells diesel smuggled from tankers at a lower price.

MUMBAI: In a joint operation with the Controller of Rationing and Director of Civil Supplies, the Mumbai police on Monday caught hold of a tanker that was illegally selling diesel near Chandra Hotel on BPT Road in Sewri.

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The police said the tanker was filled with diesel and was being transported from Indian Oil Company’s terminal 1 in Sewri and was supposed to go to Mumbai Port to fill the diesel in a tug. However, it stopped at an isolated spot and the gang illegally removed some diesel from the tanker.

The police said all 11 accused including the driver, cleaner, transport company owner and owner of the tanker have been booked under relevant sections of the Essential Commodities Act, 1955 and the Motor Spirit and High-Speed Diesel (Regulation of Supply and Distribution and Prevention of Malpractices) Order, 1988.

On a tip-off with the help of local Sewri police officers and a special flying squad of the Controller of Rationing and Director of Civil Supplies on Sunday carried out a raid at an isolated location on the BPT road in Sewri.

“When the teams reached the spot, the accused were breaking the seal of the tanker and removing diesel from it. They had several drums of 20 litres that were filled. Sanjay Chavan was detained and the driver of the tanker, cleaner Hamidar Rehman was also detained. The diesel was stolen and sold to Mohammad Khan and Arif Khan. The duo’s aides are identified as Ali Khasha, Salil Fawda, Akbar Khan, Mustaq Khan and Malqau Moin,” said the police officer.

The police suspect it’s a gang that purchases diesel from tankers and sells it illegally at cheap rates. The work of transportation is given to Ashish Transports so its owner is also booked in the case, the cops have also booked the truck owner.

“We have seized the tanker, plastic pipes used to remove diesel from the tanker, plastic drums and buckets, and two-wheeler vehicles used by the accused. They used to sell diesel smuggled from the tankers at ₹65 when its market value is ₹94 per litre presently,” said the police officer.

The police said it’s a racket that was run for a long time and the rationing department got a tip-off about it after which the raid was carried out. The complainant in the case is the rationing department officers. The police said the tanker had around 12,000 litres of diesel and samples of it have been sent to a forensic laboratory to confirm it.