Diesel theft attempt in Thane leads to leakage, temporary shutdown of BPCL pipeline

Unidentified miscreants dug six feet underground in an attempt to steal diesel from an important pipeline of the state-run refiner BPCL on the outskirts of Mumbai in the wee hours of Thursday, officials said.

The robbers failed in their efforts, but ended up damaging the 18-inch pipeline near Shil in Thane district, leading to a temporary shutdown of the pipeline, police said.

Disaster management officials said the high pressure pipeline started to leak at 5.12 am.

Senior Police Inspector Sudhir Patil of the Rabale MIDC police station said the attempt was done in an area located far away from a main road and the pipeline was six feet underground.

The damage led to a leakage and a subsequent cordoning off of the area by the authorities early in the morning to prevent any untoward incident, officials said, adding personnel from the police, fire brigade and the disaster management department were present at the spot.

Thane Municipal Corporation's regional disaster management cell chief Avinash Sawant said the leakage in the high pressure diesel pipeline started near a gas godown and the motor fuel spilled in the area.

A spokesperson for Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL) confirmed the incident and said the leak was subsequently plugged and the pipeline was fully functional now.

Inspector Patil said an offence was registered under sections 379 (punishment for theft) and 511 (punishment for attempting to commit offences punishable with imprisonment for life or other imprisonment) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Petroleum Act against unidentified persons on a complaint by BPCL officials.

No arrest has been made so far, said the police official.

BPCL commissioned the 252-km pipeline to connect its refinery in Mumbai with Nashik district's Manmad town in 1998. It was subsequently extended to the National Capital Region to become a 1,389 km pipeline.