NEW DELHI: Delhi Police’s Crime Branch has claimed to have busted an inter-state gang allegedly involved in pilferage of PDS kerosene oil and its illegal sale, and arrested five of its members and recovered 25,000 litres of kerosene smuggled in two tankers.
The accused Dinesh, Tribhuvan Singh, Kamal Verma, and Satender were arrested by a Crime Branch team from Delhi-Gurgaon border on the intervening night of October 17 and 18, said Ravindra Yadav, Joint Commissioner (Crime).
They were allegedly smuggling 25,000 litres of PDS kerosene obtained from Bewar (Rajasthan) and Sonebhadra (UP) in two tankers bearing Haryana registration numbers, he said.
The mastermind of the gang Het Ram Goel was later arrested following interrogation of the accused who were held along with the tankers, the officer said.
During interrogation, the accused said that the kerosene oil was procured from UP, Rajasthan and MP through middlemen who were hand in glove with the local Food and Civil Supplies departments and PDS shop owners, he said.
The pilfered kerosene was allegedly smuggled into Delhi and sold illegally to paint industry and also as furnace oil to other industries. The gang also used to mix chemicals to the PDS kerosene to change its color.
Also, to avoid getting caught while smuggling the pilfered PDS kerosene, the gang allegedly painted the tankers with the name and logo of a government oil company. Het Ram said that he was involved in illegal sale of PDS kerosene for over a decade.
Further investigation to unearth the network of suppliers and purchasers of PDS kerosene is underway, added the officer.
