Gang stealing petrol busted in Delhi, five nabbed

New Delhi :A gang of six who, under the garb of running a roadside eatery, pilfered petrol and diesel from pipelines of oil companies in Delhi, Haryana and Rajasthan and sell the fuel, has been busted and five of them arrested, police said Saturday.

The five – identified as Mohammad Shamid, 30, Bishan Singh, 31, Mukesh Kumar Gupta, 43, Ashok Kumar Jain, 51, and Sunil Tiwari, 26 were arrested Friday from Mangolpuri Chowk in west Delhi.

“The gang used to take dhabas on rent near the pipeline of oil companies in order to provide a cover to their crime,” said a senior police officer.

They used to secretly drill a hole in the pipeline and fix a valve in the hole. They would then connect a pipe and fill their tanker. They used to cover the valve for reuse.

The stolen crude oil was later sold with the help of Ashok and Mukesh to a person named Dinesh Kumar Shukla in Delhi and NCR. “Dinesh is an active member of the gang and also provided a tanker to the gang. They recently repainted the tanker to hide the identity of the vehicle,” said the officer.

Dinesh is absconding and police are on the lookout for him.

Police came to know of the gang’s operations through their network of informers.