Mumbai: The scope of the petrol pilferage racket busted by the Thane Police Crime Branch has widened, with the police conducting raids in seven different cities on Thursday and Friday.
The Crime Branch had last week raided two petrol pumps in Dombivli in Thane, and found electronic chips installed in the fuel dispensers. The chips helped the culprits pilfer fuel, giving customers less than what they had paid for. The police went on to conduct raids in Raigad and Pune. Five people have been arrested so far in connection with the racket.
Thane Crime Branch officers said raids were conducted at eight petrol pumps in different cities between Thursday and Friday.
“Raids were conducted at petrol pumps in Pune, Nashik, Navi Mumbai, Mumbai and Raigad on Thursday, and we found that there was a shortage of 30 to 60 ml in the fuel dispensed by the machines in these places. Electronic chips have been seized from six machines,” said an officer with the Thane Police Crime Branch.
On Friday, the Crime Branch sent teams to Nagpur and Aurangabad, after receiving information about similar rackets running in these two cities. Electronic chips were seized from at least one petrol pump in each city, and teams are still conducting investigations there, said officers.
“Some of the information we are working on has come from citizens who, after learning about the earlier raids, have contacted us to tell us about similar rackets running in their localities. The rest of the raids are being conducted based on tip-offs from informants. However, we are yet to find a common thread that binds all of these petrol pumps,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police Abhishek Trimukhe, Thane Crime Branch.
Mr. Trimukhe added that a team would soon leave for Lucknow to seek custody of Dombivli resident Vivek Shetye, who was arrested by the Uttar Pradesh Anti Terorrism Squad in connection with a similar racket busted in U.P. earlier this year. Shetye is suspected of having supplied some of the chips seized in the raids.
Meanwhile, interrogation of the five petrol pump owners arrested earlier has indicated that the racket had been running for at least one year. The police have also received information about other methods being employed in the racket, like making modifications in the software of the machines, or tampering with the keypads to show a different reading than the quantity of fuel actually being dispensed.
Prima facie, the police suspect that the technicians hired for the maintenance of the fuel dispensers put the owners in touch with suppliers of the electronic chips.
The police have, since Thursday, started picking up the technicians for inquiries. They are seeking assistance from the companies that provide such technicians, said officers.
