Mumbai Crime: Sewri Police bust oil mafia godown, book absconding kingpin

Santosh Singh

The Sewri police busted an oil mafia hideout yesterday and have booked its kingpin, who is absconding. According to Mumbai Police sources, acting on a tip-off, officers visited Powder Bunder in Sewri Darukhana yesterday and spotted a huge quantity of diesel stored uncovered without following any safety measures. The team spotted a few people at the site, but all of them ran away on seeing the cops.

An officer said, "We sanitised the area and found two tankers, one tempo and 32 drums, each contains 200 litres of diesel. We also recovered two electric motors and one hand pump." Total worth of the seized items is Rs 11.03 lakh.

Preliminary investigation led the police to Santosh Singh, the alleged kingpin behind the oil haul. He and others have been booked under sections 379 (punishment for theft) and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code, 3, 4 and 7 of the Essential Commodities Act and clause 03 of the Motor Spirit and High Speed Diesel order of 2005.