Prakasam police on Wednesday nabbed six persons, including five members of a Madhya Pradesh-based gang, for stealing diesel from vehicles on the Chennai-Kolkata highway.
Police said diesel worth more than ₹98,000 was stolen from two vehicle owners in Prakasam district.
Taking advantage of the skyrocketing fuel prices in the recent times, the gang led by one Dileep Singh from Rajgarg district in Madhya Pradesh struck at vehicles on the expressway at odd hours and sold the stolen diesel to a fuel-filling outlet in Nellore for a lower price, Prakasam Superintendent of Police Malika Garg told the media here.
The arrests followed two thefts committed in the Gudluru police station limits on August 17. The others arrested in this connection were Suneel Varma(20), Chander Singh(23), Verendra Kumar(24), Ram Babu(23), all from Madhya Pradesh and Syed Naveeed(28) from Nellore.
Following complaints lodged by one Kedari Malikarjuna Rao and Madhava Reddy from Gudluru that 1,000 litres of diesel stored in parked tractors were stolen at knife point by the gangsters near Thetu on August 17, the SP formed two teams to crack the case.
The teams nabbed the gangsters near Chevuru in the wee hours. Probe revealed that Mr. Dileep Singh had migrated from Madhya Pradesh to Andhra Pradesh in June and had struck a deal with a petrol pump owner who agreed to purchase the fuel stolen from static vehicles at a lower price and also provided them shelter in Nellore. They made a fast buck selling the fuel to autorickshaw drivers. Investigation further revealed that they had struck at several vehicles on the expressway in the last three months. A lorry used to transport the stolen fuel was also seized by the police.
Meanwhile, guided by the SP, Yerragondapalem police resolved a murder case in Thimmapuram village, near Dornala, by arresting late on Tuesday one Mandla Sekhar (24) who had allegedly killed his cousin, M. Srinivasu, by cutting his throat on January 16 this year with a knife suspecting that the latter had an illicit relationship with the former’s wife. Police recovered the knife used to commit the offence following interrogation of the accused person following a complaint from the deceased person's mother Venkata Lakshmamma during Spandana programme.
