Trained to spot fuel scam, man fell prey to greed

Mumbai: It is rather ironic that Vivek Shetey (43), an accused in the petrol pump cheat chips scam, worked in an oil company for four years creating hardware to detect and prevent manipulation of fuel dispensing machines. Shetey is now under the scanner of Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh police for fabricating and selling ‘cheat chips’ that rigged fuel stations, giving 300 ml fuel less for every 5 litre. “Shetey, an electronic post-graduate, is accused of selling over 1,000 cheat chips to men associated with fuel stations in UP and Maharashtra,” said police sources.

Shetey, who was earlier arrested by the UP police is currently in the custody of Thane police till Saturday. “Shetey has sold thousands of chips all over India. He got this idea when he was working with an oil company few years ago. He left that job five years ago and started making these chips.  He sold these chips to petrol pump owners. Initially, he approached petrol pump owners. Later, he would get calls from all over India to make these chips for new oil pumps,” said a source.

Crime branch deputy commissioner of police Abhishek Trimukhe said, “We are interrogating him. We will get details of other chips makers who are involve in it.”

Shetey, was arrested from Dombivali. He is an electronics post-graduate who manufactured the chips at his workshop and allegedly sold each chip for Rs 50,000 to accused in UP. Shetey was arrested for selling cheat chips to UP-based suspect, Ajay Chaurasia. He manufactured the chips at his home and office in Dombivali’s Nilje village.

His family did not know about his business. He did not employ anyone. He would make one chip in three days. He has been doing this work for the past few years. Earlier, he sold a chip for Rs 3,000 but then hiked the price to Rs 50,000.

Different chip models

• In UP, the accused used chips with remote control while in Maharashtra, they used a three digit code to give commands. Using remote control is easily traceable, because the police simply looked for the remote of the chip.
• Consequently, the three-digit code model was innovated. It gives command to the pulsar cards, a circuit, that they were attached to the petrol-dispensing machine. Once this code is entered, the machine dispenses less petrol. Example: If a customer sought one litre petrol, they ended up getting only 940 ml or less.