Two fuel stations under scanner post raids across Maharashtra

Mumbai: The Thane city police crime branch on Thursday carried out raids at fuel stations in Pune, Nashik, Mumbai, Navi Mumbai and Raigad to find discrepancies at two pumps that were dispensing less fuel than what had been paid for.

The police initiated a crackdown on fuel stations allegedly using cheat chips to manipulate fuel dispensing units. Crime branch officials checked the dispensers at six petrol pumps out of which four were HPCL and two BPCL.

Sukhada Narkar, inspector and Thane city police spokeswoman said, “Out of the four HPCL pumps checked, two were found to be dispensing less quantities and there was a deficit of 30ml to 60ml. These pumps are under the scanner. Of the BPCL pumps checked, both have been found doubtful.”

Officials are now verifying the documents of these pumps and checking dispensers to ascertain since when supply of less fuel began. The raids are set to cover Aurangabad and Nagpur too in coming days.

Thane police recently busted an inter-state racket where technicians of at least six fuel supplying companies are under the scanner for colluding with petrol pump owners. Investigation revealed that the accused pump owners and managers soldered electronic chips on the inside of the vending machine that increased fuel readings while reducing the actual volume of fuel dispensed. In some pumps that were raided earlier, police also found that the software had been tampered with.