Chhattisgarh: District food officer among four held over LPG diversion from seized trucks

Those arrested include Mahasamund district food officer Ajay Yadav, Gaurav Gas Agency operator Pankaj Chandrakar, Manish Chaudhary and Nikhil Vaishnav, Mahasamund Superintendent of Police SP Prabhat Kumar said. Six LPG-loaded capsule trucks were seized by police in the Singhoda police station area in December last year after illegal refilling of cylinders was allegedly detected from the vehicles, he said.

Four persons, including a district food officer, have been arrested for allegedly siphoning off LPG worth around Rs 1.5 crore from seized capsule trucks in Chhattisgarh's Mahasamund district, police said on Saturday. The accused allegedly made elaborate plans and created forged documents to divert 92 metric tonnes of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), they said. Those arrested include Mahasamund district food officer Ajay Yadav, Gaurav Gas Agency operator Pankaj Chandrakar, Manish Chaudhary and Nikhil Vaishnav, Mahasamund Superintendent of Police (SP) Prabhat Kumar said. Six LPG-loaded capsule trucks were seized by police in the Singhoda police station area in December last year after illegal refilling of cylinders was allegedly detected from the vehicles, he said. As the trucks had remained parked at the police station and safety arrangements were inadequate during the peak summer season, police wrote to the district administration in March to shift them to a safer location to avoid any untoward incident, the SP said. Later, food department officials on March 30 handed over custody of the six LPG-loaded trucks to Thakur Petrochemicals owner Santosh Singh Thakur in the presence of food inspectors and other officials, Kumar said. The trucks were subsequently shifted from Singhoda police station to Thakur Petrochemicals in the Abhanpur area of neighbouring Raipur district, he added. Investigation showed that the conspiracy to steal LPG was allegedly hatched even before the formal transfer of custody of the vehicles, the official said. Yadav and Chandrakar allegedly met on March 23 and planned the embezzlement, estimating illegal gains of nearly Rs 1 crore. Chandrakar was allegedly tasked with identifying buyers and coordinating the operation, while Manish Chaudhary was asked to establish contact with gas agencies in Raipur, he said. On March 26, Yadav and Chandrakar allegedly visited Singhoda police station to assess the quantity of LPG stored in the six capsule trucks. They estimated that around 105 metric tonnes of LPG was present in the vehicles, he said. Later that night, the three accused allegedly held a meeting with a gas agency operator to finalise the deal, Kumar said. The deal for diverting the LPG was allegedly settled at Rs 80 lakh with the owner of Thakur Petrochemicals Santosh Thakur. The largest share of Rs 50 lakh was allegedly delivered to Ajay Yadav on March 31, a day after custody of the seized trucks was handed over, he said. Investigators said there was a delay in arranging the remaining Rs 30 lakh in cash, and the accused allegedly lacked confidence in Thakur. As a safeguard, Rs 30 lakh was transferred digitally from Thakur's account to the account of Manish Chaudhary as a security deposit. Within a week, Thakur allegedly paid Rs 30 lakh to Chaudhary. Of the amount, Chaudhary allegedly retained Rs 10 lakh as his share, while Rs 20 lakh was passed on to Chandrakar. After completion of the transactions, the Rs 30 lakh security amount was allegedly transferred back from Chaudhary's account to Thakur's account, he added. After the capsule trucks were shifted, LPG was allegedly siphoned off gradually over a week. Fake weighing records and forged documents were prepared on April 6 and 8 to conceal the diversion of nearly 92 metric tonnes of LPG worth around Rs 1.5 crore in the market, the official said. Fabricated weighing documents were allegedly submitted to the collectorate even before the actual weighing process was completed, raising suspicion of forgery and manipulation of official records, the SP said. Santosh Thakur and Sarthak Thakur of Thakur Petrochemicals are absconding, and efforts are underway to trace them, he said, adding that further investigation in the case is underway.