Bhilwara: Tonk police Saturday busted an interstate gang involved in stealing crude oil by illegally tapping an underground Indian Oil Corp Ltd (IOCL) pipeline in the Pachewar police station area and arrested 12 accused from six states.SP Roshan Meena said the arrests were made following a technical investigation into an oil leak detected in the IOCL pipeline. During questioning, the accused allegedly confessed to carrying out similar thefts earlier in Motipura, Devra and Mangliyawas areas of Ajmer district.According to police, IOCL engineers detected an abnormal pressure drop in the underground pipeline on June 1. A joint inspection with police led to the discovery of signs of excavation in a field.
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Further digging revealed an illegally installed valve on the pipeline and a 40-foot pipeline used to siphon off crude oil.Based on a complaint by IOCL officials, police registered a case under relevant provisions of the Petroleum and Minerals Pipelines (Acquisition of Right of User in Land) Act, the Explosive Substances Act and other laws related to damage to public property. A special investigation team was subsequently formed.After analysing technical evidence and scanning CCTV footage, police arrested the alleged kingpin, Munne Fauji of Meerut in Uttar Pradesh, along with 11 other members of the organised gang from Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Punjab.Police said the accused used illegal pipeline connections to steal crude oil from the IOCL pipeline.Investigators are now probing the equipment used in the thefts, vehicles involved, and the network through which the stolen crude oil was sold.
