After petrol scam, STF busts major PDS kerosene racket
:Close on the heels of the petrol sale scam, the UP Special Task Force (STF) has unearthed a major racket of black marketing of public distribution system (PDS) kerosene, meant to be sold to the common man at subsidised rates.
Acting on a tip-off, on Thursday night, STF sleuths seized an oil tanker containing 12,000 litres of PDS kerosene meant for supply in Unnao. The tanker was intercepted in Kanpur Dehat when it started moving towards Hamirpur and was brought to Unnao. After being informed by the STF, the Unnao police lodged an FIR at Ajgain police station and arrested four people, including the dealer Krishna Kumar Maheshwari.
“The black marketeers sold the PDS kerosene (which they got at the subsidised rate of ₹ 18.10 per litre from the oil company depot) in the open market at ₹40 to 45 per litre and earned huge profit,” said Amit Pathak, senior superintendent of police (SSP), STF. “In the open market, the shopkeepers sold the kerosene in ₹50 per litre after purchasing it from black marketeers”.
He said initial probe suggested that everybody from the dealer to the fair price shop owners and officials of district supply office (whose responsibility is to check the stock and proper supply of kerosene to the common man) were involved in this scam.
Pathak said the STF teams were tracking some of the black marketeers for the past few days after understanding the mechanism with oil companies. He said the tanker of the Unnao dealer left the Indian Oil Company depot in Panki, Kanpur on Wednesday and stayed at Yashodanagar, Kanpur till Thursday evening. It started moving towards Hamirpur when it was intercepted in Bidhuna, Kanpur Dehat. He said the tanker never reached the dealer’s godown in Unnao but he made a false entry of the oil consignment on Wednesday itself. Moreover, the entry was verified by supply inspector Chanda Gupta and area rationing officer Meraj Ahmad in the stock register, he said. He said the Unnao district administration had seized the dealer’s stock register for further investigation.
The tanker driver confessed that he had been told to deliver the kerosene at some other place in Hamirpur. The findings suggested that the dealer had sold the entire kerosene stock in the open market with the connivance of the supply officer and area rationing officer, Pathak said, adding that action against the officers concerned had been recommended to Unnao district administration.
SP Unnao, Neha Pandey said FIR under 3/7 Essential Commodities Act had been lodged against the dealer. She said those arrested included the dealer, his manager Shiv Shanker, tanker driver Chhote and cleaner Shafique.