5 diesel thieves held after chase

Odhav police on Thursday night chased down and arrested a gang of diesel thieves on the Odhav Ring Road. The gang could be apprehended only after a 20-minute chase. The thieves would specifically target trucks parked at hotels and dhabas near major highways for rest stops around the city's outskirts.

The five arrested gang members were identified as Dabbe Singh alias Shekhar Thakore, Raju Rajput alias Raja Bhaiya, Montu Tomar alias Sonu, Kamal Singh Sendhav and Chandu Rana. The police also seized around 38 drums, of which 19 were filled with diesel along with a truck worth a total Rs8.83 lakh. The recovered fuel measured to 665 litres!

The Odhav police on Thursday evening received a  tip-off about a gang of diesel thieves near Odhav Ring Road. As the police jeep neared the truck for closer inspection, the truck's engine fired up and started to get away. The police chased the vehicle for about 20 minutes with neither party relenting a bit. The cops finally managed to get the truck to pull over to the side of the road near the Pipleshwar Mahadev temple on the ring road.