Pune: Three policemen, including a senior police officer from the Loni Kalbhor police station, came under scanner in 20,000 litre diesel theft case. The diesel was allegedly stolen from three diesel tankers seized by the police. The tankers were parked in the police station premises.
Sources at the police station said, “Three constables had helped a local man to steal the diesel from the tankers in August.”
Police sources further revealed that on the same night another team at the night patrol duty caught a person stealing diesel from the tankers kept at the police station.
The three accused policemen intervened and told the night patrolling team that a senior officer had ordered them to do so.
The Loni Kalbhor police have already launched an internal inquiry probing the role of the policemen and villagers in the case. The Pune rural police suspect villagers’ involvement, but do not have any evidence yet.
Superintendent of police (Pune rural) Manoj Lohia said, “The matter is serious and we have instructed the police inspector to initiate a probe. We will take serious action against the accused even if he is from the police department.”
Meanwhile, police inspector Namdev Sarangkar, who is conducting an inquiry said, “A few months ago, we had seized three diesel tankers which contained 30,000 litres of diesel. These were being taken to some place for illegal supply. The tankers were parked at the police station. The upper covers of the tankers were open, which means the robbers broke the tankers locks. They might have stolen about 20,000 litres and sold it out in neighbouring areas.”
Sarangkar said that police were unaware of the incident till the villagers told them.
DNA
