Gas agency driver held for LPG theft, 12 unclaimed commercial cylinders seized: Police

WITH COMMERCIAL LPG cylinders virtually out of reach for most users, the Vadodara Special Operations Group (SOG) on Saturday caught red-handed the tempo driver of a gas agency for allegedly committing theft of LPG from domestic gas cylinder to fill up empty commercial gas cylinders in the VIP road area of the city.

The SOG also recovered 12 “unclaimed” commercial LPG cylinders from an open spot near the same location.

On a tip-off, the SOG arrested Sadulal Bharwad, 46, a tempo driver of a gas agency for alleged theft of LPG from domestic cylinders meant for delivery to bonafide customers.

The police said that Bharwad allegedly diverted the tempo to his residence in the VIP Road area and siphoned off LPG from the domestic gas cylinders by opening the seal and transferring the gas into commercial cylinders.

The police, which released a video of Bharwad demonstrating the method by which he siphoned off the gas, also seized 25 domestic LPG cylinders from the possession of Bharward.

SOG Police Inspector J R Gamit said, “The domestic cylinders were meant for delivering to genuine customers.

However, on the way, Bharwad diverted the vehicle to his residence in Bharwardvaas on VIP Road and inside his home, he siphoned off LPG from the domestic cylinders into the commercial cylinders… He had four commercial cylinders in his house, out of which, one had been half filled.”
Gamit added that Bharwad used a metal gas pipe to transfer the LPG from the domestic cylinder to the commercial cylinder.

“He has been booked in a case of cheating as the customers who were to receive the domestic cylinders would not know that the weight had been reduced by way of siphoning off the LPG, at such a time.

Also, Bharwad was transferring the LPG from one cylinder to another inside a residential house, using unsafe tools and thus posing a threat of explosion and tragedy in the clustered neighbourhood,” Gamit said.

Bharwad was handed over to the Harni police station, under the jurisdiction of which the incident occurred.

A few metres away from Bharwad’s home, the SOG also seized 12 “unclaimed” commercial LPG cylinders from an open plot in the clustered neighbourhood.

The cylinders belonged to various gas companies – nine belonged to Indane, two of Hindustan Petroleum and one belonging to Bharatiya Gas were seized from the open plot.

Gamit added that the seized commercial LPG cylinders were also handed over to Harni police station for further investigation.

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