3 people arrested for crude oil theft in Rajasthan

Jaipur, Jul 11 (PTI) The Rajasthan Police's Special Operations Group (SOG) has arrested three people accused of stealing crude oil by drilling a hole in the underground Mudra-Panipat pipeline of the Indian Oil Corporation Limited, officials said on Thursday.

Additional Director General of Police (ATS and SOG) V K Singh said in a statement that police had announced rewards of Rs 10,000 each on the arrest of Sohanram Vishnoi and Akash Jain in connection with the case registered on a complaint lodged by Sher Singh Chauhan, senior maintenance manager of the IOCL in Beawar.

He said the Jodhpur team of the SOG arrested Vishnoi from Jodhpur, Bhupendra Singh alias Raju from Morbi and Bhagwan Singh alias Bhaggi (32) from Gujarat's Vadodara in connection with the theft.

A jeep and a car used to transport stolen crude oil have also been recovered, V K Singh said.

He said Bhagwan Singh was the mastermind behind drilling the holes and installing valves in the petroleum pipeline.

Further investigations are underway, the officials added. PTI AG IJT IJT