Margao: Two booked for pilfering fuel from Kadamba Transport Company

Margao: Fatorda police on Monday booked a case against two persons on charges on pilfering fuel from the Kadamba Transport Company’s (KTC) Margao depot. The incident came to light on Sunday following which the KTC Margao depot manager R A Luis lodged a complaint to that effect with Fatorda police. Following a preliminary investigation into the complaint, police on Monday registered an offence against Arvind Vernekar, owner of transport firm Vernekar Transport, which supplies high speed diesel to Margao KTC depot, and the driver of the tanker, under Sections 379, 285 and 12 of Petroleum Act 2000.

Police sources said after the fuel tanker arrived at the depot, KTC’s tanker inspection committee examined the vehicle and let it inside the depot. The complaint stated that the driver of the tanker attached one end of the diesel delivery pipe to the tanker and the other end to the underground storage tank’s inlet pipe and opened the master valve of the tank. This led to diesel overflowing from the tanker raising suspicion of pilferage from the underground storage tanker leading to the police complaint.

Police suspect a wider syndicate in the fuel pilferage activities and have begun investigations.