THE GANG’S MODUS OPERANDI
The fraud is estimated to be worth around Rs 6.5 crore.
The gang earned around Rs 1 lakh to Rs 3 lakh per day.
The gang stole between 2000 litres and 7700 litres diesel on daily basis.
The gang used to sell the diesel to petrol pump owners between Rs 50 and Rs 52 per litre across 15 fuel stations located at outskirts of Jaipur and highways of Sikar and Jhunjhunu. One fuel station owner of Jaipur identified as Arvind Kumar was arrested on July 20. The owners of rest fuel stations are absconding.
The accused took land of Chandrakant Sharma and Omprakash Sharma who lives in Jhunjhunu dsitrict in Rajawas close to lines of HPCL in the month of August, 2018 on rent . The laying of pipelines took around four months and after which from January this yearthe gang started stealing diesel from the lines.
ers who dug the tunnel and laid the pipelines worked between 9 p m a n d 2 a m. T h e y t o o k four months to complete the construction. After completing the c o n s t r u c t i o n wo r k , Sardar Swarn Singh hired a technical expert from Uttar Pradesh for the welding work in connecting the HPCL pipelines with the pipelines laid by them.”
He added that the expert, through a valve, connected the pipelines. He assured that the pressure of diesel f l owing through these lines would be low so that they do not get caught.
The accused confessed during interrogation that in order to deceive police, they used to purchase fuel from nearby petrol pumps and take bills and whenever they passed through police barricades carrying stolen diesel, they used to show the bills. Drivers were paid two to three times more than the market rate for supply of the diesel. They were also given incentives for supply.