New Delhi: Amid the LPG crisis across India, police arrested several people from different parts of Delhi NCR for allegedly running an illegal LPG refilling operation and indulging in the black marketing of LPG cylinders. Two big cases were reported in the national capital over the black marketing of domestic gas cylinders.
Delhi Police arrested a 46-year-old man from the Shakarpur area of East Delhi on Monday, March 16, for running a shop for illegally refilling LPG cylinders.
A team consisting of Head Constable Anurag and other police personnel conducted a raid at the accused’s shop. Officials caught one person present during the operation.
The accused was identified as Yogesh Gupta, and during questioning, he admitted that he was refilling gas from the large cylinders to the smaller ones over the past few days.
Yogesh also doesn’t have a permit or licence to refill the LPG gas. Police recovered two domestic cylinders of 14.2 kg and three smaller ones of 5 kg each. He also had a totapilas, a pipe that is used to transfer gas.
Delhi Police also seized a large stock of LPG cylinders from Mundka as the officials recovered 610 cylinders from the warehouse. The Anti-Extortion and Kidnapping Cell (AEKC) of the Delhi Police Crime Branch has busted a major racket of illegally storing LPG cylinders in the Mundka area of Outer Delhi.
Acting on a tip-off, Delhi police personnel, including SI Rajbir, SI Parveen, ASI Ravindra Kumar, ASI Umesh, HC Amit, HC Mohit, HC Nitin, HC Ravinder, and HC Deepak Kumar, led by Inspector Amit Solanki, conducted a raid at the warehouse. The operation was conducted under the supervision of ACP Pankaj Arora and DCP Sanjeev Kumar Yadav (IPS).
The warehouse was situated at Khasra No. 111.22 and 111, plot no. 9, Mundka. An agency was running but only had Indane commercial gas cylinders’ authorised distribution, but apart from Indane, HP and Bharat Gas cylinders were recovered from the site.
During the raid, 423 Indane, 92 Bharat Gas, and 95 HP gas cylinders were recovered from the website. Out of these, 197 were filled, and 392 were empty. Additionally, 21 small cylinders were recovered from the site.
Police say that cylinders are often hoarded in this manner, and when there is a shortage in the market, they are sold at a higher price for black marketing. Furthermore, storing such a large number of cylinders improperly poses a security risk.
The owner of the warehouse was not present at the time of the raid and is currently absconding. Police are searching for him and investigating the entire supply network.