2 arrested for smuggling diesel

Tribune News Service

Mohali, December 6

In a case of alleged fuel smuggling from Chandigarh to the Punjab area, a team of the Excise and Taxation Department, Chandigarh, has seized an oil tanker containing 2,500 litres of diesel near YPS Chowk here.

The Mohali police have arrested two persons, including the tanker driver and the manager of a petrol pump, in this connection. The police have registered a case against three persons, Darshan Kumar, owner of the tanker, Rahul Sharma, manager of a Chandigarh-based petrol pump, and Noor Mohammad, driver of the vehicle, under Sections 420 and 120-B of the IPC and other appropriate sections of other acts at the Mataur police station in Phase 7 here.

Shaleen Walia, Assistant Commissioner of Excise and Taxation (Mobile Wing), Chandigarh, said they foiled the fuel smuggling bid following a tip-off. He said the tanker, bearing registration number CH 100 (T) 2472, was spotted while coming from Chandigarh to the Mohali side.

“It was intercepted at YPS Chowk following a brief chase. Later, it came out that the fuel was being supplied from Chandigarh to the Mohali area illegally,” said Shaleen Walia.

He said the diesel was filled from M/s Chandigarh Petroways in Sector 52, Chandigarh, and was meant for M/S Kher Constructions, Chunni-Landran road, in Kharar.

The excise officials also recovered another invoice of November 27, 2018, from the driver. The driver confessed that he had supplied fuel to another client in a similar manner. He also confessed that it was a routine to supply fuel illegally at various places in Punjab.

It is to be noted that that the rate difference of diesel and petrol between Chandigarh and Mohali is Rs 3.79 and Rs 9.37, respectively.