Ahmedabad Times

Nonetheless, because of the rising summer season warmth in March and a scarcity of satisfactory security preparations, police requested the District Collector to take custody of the tankers. In keeping with officers, the tankers had been handed over to the meals division on March 30 and finally got here into the custody of one of many accused, who runs an LPG distribution firm primarily based within the state capital, Raipur. It has been alleged that the burden of LPG within the tankers was not checked earlier than they had been entrusted to the corporate. After the handover, the tankers had been taken to premises owned by the distribution firm at Urla village in Raipur.

The theft got here to mild in April when the unique transporters of the tankers reached the Singhora police station to take the vans again.

Police alleged that gasoline was stolen between March 30 and April 5. On April 6 and April 8, the tankers had been taken for weighing on the Mahasamund meals officer’s workplace.

The theft got here to mild in April when the unique transporters of the tankers reached the Singhora police station to take the vans again. They checked the tankers and realised gasoline had been stolen and complained to police.

The sequence of occasions dates again to December 2025, when police in Mahasamund’s Singhora space seized six LPG tankers that had been stationed in a jungle space by a gang that was allegedly stealing gasoline from them.

Police stated they confirmed the theft primarily based on a GPS system put in within the tankers, which confirmed that they had been taken contained in the accused’s plant. Additional, the sale receipts of the accused’s distribution firm confirmed that solely 47 tonnes of LPG was bought in April, and there was zero opening inventory. Nonetheless, 107 tonnes of gasoline was bought.

Mahasamund district Superintendent of Police Prabhat Kumar stated, “The principle accused are meals division officer Ajay Yadav, the gasoline seller Pankaj Chandrakar and their aide in Raipur, Manish Chaudhary, and Santosh Thakur (the proprietor of the distribution firm).” Yadav, Chandrakar, and Chaudhary have been arrested up to now.

As per police, the meals division officer and the gasoline company proprietor allegedly ensured that Thakur received custody of the tankers, after which they roped in Chaudhary to get in contact with gasoline companies throughout Raipur to rearrange the sale of the stolen LPG.

No less than eight gasoline companies, which allegedly purchased the gasoline illegally, at the moment are beneath the scanner. The accused had claimed that the gasoline leaked from the tankers, however a technical crew denied any leakage, stated police.