In the incident, five persons were caught red-handed by the squad, who also seized a tanker and a truck with various instruments used for stealing oil.
The DG Vigilance squad reportedly busted an oil-thieves racket at Indian Oil Corporation (IOC)'s parking lot in Chandkheda on Tuesday.
In the incident, five persons were caught red-handed by the squad, who also seized a tanker and a truck with various instruments used for stealing oil.
The incident also uncovered the nexus between the thieves and the company's drivers.
According to sources in the squad, a diesel tanker of the company was parked outside the company's parking lot while another private tanker was stealing oil through pipes. To conceal the proceedings, another truck was parked, which prevented the spot from being viewed by the company's guards.
When the vigilance squad learnt about the incident through an informer, it reached the spot and caught five persons, including Ugrashyamsinh Rajput 'Ugu' who is also said to be the leader, tanker driver Punwasi Sonar, its conductor Rajesh Jitendrasinh Rajput, and the company's truck driver Mohammad Alam and his conductor Mohammad Taj.
Sources said that the modus operandi behind the stealing of diesel was simple but seemed well-organised.
They said that after the company's truck was filled up, the driver used to stay at the parking lot, while a private tanker would be parked beside it and to cover this clandestine activity, another truck was being used.
With this set-up in place, the process of stealing oil used to begin with opening the wall-box with an iron rod. They used to open the wall box by inserting the iron rod into its handle, as its keys are normally with the company and the place where oil gets refilled.
Once this was done, they used to insert a pipe into the tanker while the other end was fitted to the other truck to drain out the oil.
Sources said that the squad caught the thieves and seized 12,400 litres of diesel with various tools, Rs17,300 in cash and three cell phones.
Sources said that investigation revealed that after stealing the oil, the thieves used to sell it in the market, usually at Rs600 per 20 litre. The company's driver used to get Rs500 per 20 litre. Sources added that the gang used to drain out oil worth Rs500-Rs10,000 in a day.
After investigations, the squad handed the arrested persons to the Sabarmati police. DySp RS Sindhi and police inspector Deepak Vyas were among others were present in the squad.
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