Police bust fuel scam; 11 TS, 19 AP bunks involved

The Cyberabad police, along with the legal metrology departments of Telangana state and Andhra Pradesh, cracked open a sophisticated racket in which some petrol and diesel bunk owners in the two states were siphoning off fuel without the knowledge of their customers from last year.

Eleven fuel stations in Telangana state and 19 in Andhra Pradesh were involved in the racket that operated with full knowledge of the fuel pump owners, Cyberabad police commissioner V.C. Sajjanar told reporters at a press conference here on Saturday. The architect of the racket was Subhani Basha, alias Basha, a resident of West Godavari district in Andhra Pradesh, who had worked for many years at a fuel station and developed expertise in installation of manipulated chips in fuel dispensing machines that would make them deliver less fuel. For example, Sajjanar said, only 960 ml of petrol is delivered while the meter displays that 1000 ml has been dispensed.

Basha used to purchase the chips and manipulated software from Jo Joseph and Shibu Thomas of Mumbai, and installed them in fuel stations in the Telugu states. Basha and his associates used to charge from `80,000 to `1.2 lakh for the purpose.

The fraudsters used to install the integrated chips only in one fuel pump at a station out of every two and pump staff used to encourage vehicle owners to line up before the doctored pumps. When someone wanted to fill a bottle or a can with fuel, they would be directed to the normal pumps to ensure shortages are not noticed.

So far, four people who organised the racket as well as nine owners of fuel stations have been held and the police is on the look-out for 11 others. The raids were conducted over the last two days, Sajjanar said.

Information related to cheating and irregularities has been shared with the concerned companies — Indian Oil Corporation Ltd, Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd, and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited.