The black marketing of oils in Sambalpur city is known to every one in the city. City police today arrested four persons in connection with the theft of a diesel tanker and selling the fuel worth Rs 11 lakh.
The accused were identified as Kishore Modi, 55, his son, Abinash, 28, Satyanarayana Beriha, 35, and Bantu alias Amit Agrawal, 32. Kishore and his son Abinash are owners of a petrol pump at Remed in the city.
Police have seized six mobile phones, Rs 40,000 in cash and 20,000 litres of diesel from their possession.
“The owner of the tanker, Budhu Yadav of Bishrampur in Surajpur district of neighbouring Chhattisgarh had lodged a complaint at the Ainthapali police station regarding the theft of the vehicle on January 19,” said additional superintendent of police S.K. Panigrahi.
The tanker, which was loaded with 20,000 litres of diesel, set out from Paradip on January 14. It was supposed to go to Bishrampur. The owner of the tanker was in regular contact with the driver and the cleaner of the vehicle. However, he failed to make any contact with them on January 15, which led him to suspect that his tanker had actually been stolen.
Since the tanker was GPS enabled, Yadav traced the last location of the tanker to Remed.
During investigation, police found that the 20,000 litres of diesel were sold at a petrol pump owned by Kishore Modi. “We are yet to trace the driver and the cleaner of the tanker. However, we have succeeded in tracing the tanker, which is parked at Visakhapatnam,” said Panigrahi.
