Cop held for shielding racketeers

A Sub-Inspector of Delhi Police has been arrested for reportedly botching up a probe into an adulterated oil racket that was being run from a farmhouse in Vasant Kunj, reports HT Correspondent.

A Sub-Inspector of Delhi Police has been arrested for reportedly botching up a probe into an adulterated oil racket that was being run from a farmhouse in Vasant Kunj.

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So far, seven people, including the policeman have been arrested in the case. Two brothers, Anil and Sunil Bansal -- residents of Gulabi Bagh -- were running the racket. Both of them are now behind bars.

The two contractors used to divert oil tankers meant for a particular destination to the farmhouse, emptied them, adulterated the oil and then sold it in the grey market. The racket was being run since January this year and the police said it might run into crores.

The other four accused have been identified as SI Mohinder Lal, Omprakash Shintu, Tribhuvan, Lallan Kumar and Omprakash. SI Mohinder Lal, posted with the Vasant Kunj police station, was arrested by the Crime Branch on Tuesday for "mixing up" with the two contractors.

Four of the remaining accused are out on bail presently. "We will approach the court to cancel their bail and seek their custody for further investigations. They were arrested in April and got bail a few days later," said Satyendra Garg, additional commissioner of police (crime).

The case was transferred to the Crime Branch of Delhi Police after the Station House Officer (SHO) of Vasant Kunj was suspended for turning a blind eye to the racket.

"During our investigations, we found that the policeman was shielding the accused and he was trying to derail the investigations. He was the investigating officer of the case," said a senior Crime Branch police officer.

The police did not rule out the involvement of other policemen in the case and more arrests were likely.

After the case was transferred to the Crime Branch, sections 407 (criminal breach of trust by carrier), 409 (criminal breach of trust by public servant) and 120 (criminal conspiracy) IPC were added along with the Essential Commodities Act.