Five nabbed for smuggling kerosene

Delhi Police Crime Branch busted an organised interstate racket with five persons having been arrested. They are involved in siphoning off the kerosene oil from the Public Distribution System (PDS) spread over Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh and was diverting it for the commercial use at Delhi. The accused have been identified as Dinesh (49), Tribhuvan Singh (44), Kamal Verma (40), Satender (42) and Het Ram (36). Delhi police recovered that about 25,000 liters of Kerosene oil in two tankers have been affected. 

“An input was received that an organized gang is operating on national level and is diverting the kerosene oil meant for PDS towards the commercial use in Delhi. The information was developed and a team was constituted to nab them,” a senior police official said. On the intervening night of Saturday and Sunday, a trap was laid at Delhi-Gurgaon border, National Highway-8. Two tankers were then identified and stopped. It was revealed that these tankers were carrying kerosene oil and the drivers disclosed that they had got the same from Beawar, Ajmer (Rajasthan) and Sonbhadra, UP. Concerned persons of Indian Oil Company, HPCL and Bharat Petroleum were also made to join the investigation for the proper search and seizure. On sustained interrogation, they disclosed that the syndicate is being run by Het Ram Goel and he was the one who had employed the other people. The procurement of the kerosene oil is done from various states through the middlemen of that area. The kerosene oil allocated by the Food and Civil Supplies department to various distributors of Fair Price Shops is siphoned off by the distributors and the dealers of fair price shops.

It was also revealed that the accused person has got the kerosene oil tanker painted with the name of Bharat Petroleum and its logo so that the tanker seems to be the vehicle of a PSU/Govt Oil Company.