The Sangli police have so far arrested nine people, besides booking three others from different locations, for their suspected role in the illegal supply of naphtha for petrol adulteration.
A prime suspect in the adulterated petrol racket, arrested by the Sangli police, has confessed that a well-organised system ensures that naphtha is stolen directly from the pipelines of oil companies, located at Mahulgaon in Chembur area. The naphtha is then mixed with benzene or other solvents before it is mixed with petrol.
The Sangli police have so far arrested nine people, besides booking three others from different locations, for their suspected role in the illegal supply of naphtha for petrol adulteration.
The prime suspect — identified as Ramnarayan Subedar Singh, 49 — lives in Premjyot Housing Society at Sanpada. Singh, who runs Tusharleen Industries in Silvassa in Gujarat, was arrested on January 6.
Singh, in a statement to the police, said that initially he procured the naphtha from Sagar Industries located at Bulsar in Gujarat. For the last seven months, Sagar Industries failed to supply him the naphtha, after which he started purchasing it from agents Manojsingh Raghuraj Singh — a resident of Amitsagar Society in Navi Mumbai — and KK Chembur.
Both Manojsingh and Chembur directly steal the naphtha from the pipelines of oil companies in Mahulgeon, Singh has told the police.
While the police are on the lookout for Manojsingh and Chembur, superintendent of police (Sangli) Krishna Prakash told DNA that this revelation is an indication of a well-organised syndicate.
The modus operandi, as Prakash explained, is that valves are fixed at various places on the pipelines after drilling holes into them, when the pipelines are empty. When naphtha flows in through the pipelines, the valves are opened for the naphtha to flow out, which is then collected and filled in tankers.
According to Prakash, there is a possibility that employees of the oil companies may also be involved. “It is unlikely that naphtha is being regularly drained out without their knowledge,” another senior official said, explaining that the employees are likely to be involved in manipulating the companies’ records of the oil stocks and passing the information of the time of arrival of oil in the pipelines.
Although naphtha is widely used in the paint industry, it is illegally mixed with petrol to boost profit margins. Naphtha, after mixing with benzene, achieves density equal to petrol. The mixture of naphtha and benzene cost roughly around Rs32.75 per litre.
Deputy superintendent of police Somnath Gharge, who heads the investigation team, told DNA that this may be an interstate operation, spreading across Maharashtra, Gujarat and Jharkhand.
Gharge said the value of the naphtha stolen is likely to be worth crores of rupees. “Moreover, it is a major security issue as the spill could lead to a major accident.”
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