Sanpada police arrested four persons for allegedly stealing oil from HPCL pipeline in Turbhe. While the case was registered in September, the accused were arrested last week. The police also took custody of a petrol pump manager from Buldhana for buying the stolen petroleum product.
During September, the Mumbai-Pune pipeline of HPCL was seen with the low-pressure supply. In order to identify the reason for low pressure, the HPCL official started patrolling along the pipeline.
During the patrolling, on 27 September around 3 am, HPCL officials noticed some bustling along the pipeline under Turbhe over-bridge. They immediately informed the police. However, by the time police reached there, they had already left the place. But the police found that a hole was made in the oil pipeline and an iron valve was fixed to withdraw oil. The access to the area was immediately cordoned off.
A case of theft was registered at Sanapada police station against unidentified persons under section 379, 285, 427, 411, and 34 of IPC along with section 15 of Petroleum and Minerals Pipelines (Acquisition of Right of User in Land) Act, 1962 and section 3 of The Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act and 3, 7 (1) of the Essential Commodities Act.
Police started the investigation, but got succeeded on November 15 when it arrested one of the accused identified as Bholaprasad Yadav. “We took Yadav into confidence who revealed three other names involved in the oil theft racket. He also informed about three others coming near Sanpada highway flyover,” said a senior police official from Zone 1 of Navi Mumbai police. Based on his information, the police laid a trap and caught the other three involved in the crime. They were identified as Baldev Singh, Jitendra Singh, and Keshav Shetty.
Police also recovered the tanker which was used to carry the stolen oil products, other tools, and mobile phone to commit the crime worth Rs 3.2 lakh.
Meanwhile, the police also took custody of a petrol pump manager identified as Suresh Bhaskar Sakpal from Buldhana for buying the stolen petroleum products.
