Mangaluru: The Dakshina Kannada district police on Friday, December 8, arrested 10 persons in connection with a racket involving siphoning of bitumen from tankers that move out of Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited (MRPL) to different places in the State.

Police gave the names of the arrested persons as Vijay Kumar Shetty of Udupi, Sudhakar Shetty of Kadeshwalya villge in Bantwal taluk, tanker drivers Mohammed Imran, M. Ashraf, S.R. Veerendra, Madaswamy, Prabhakaran, M.G.Naveen Kumar, Mohammed Nissar, and Mohammed Siabhuddin.

Acting on a tip-off, the Cyber Crime, Economic Offences and and Narcotics (CEN) police kept a watch on the activities at an open place in Aamai in Kadeshwalya village where tankers filled with bitumen would stop for a while. The police found that a small portion of bitumen from loaded tankers was being taken out and filled into empty tankers.

Bitumen thus siphoned off from about 30 tankers would make one new full tanker of bitumen that would be sold in the black market for about ₹5 lakh. Each of the tanker driver who obliged to remove the bitumen was paid about ₹3,000. The drivers would fill water in the original tanks to make up for the removed quantity of bitumen, police said.

DK Superintendent of Police C.B. Ryshyanth said Vijaykumar Shetty and Sudhakar Shetty operated the racket in connivance with tanker drivers for many days. Police are on the look out for other persons allegedly involved in the racket. Disciplinary action will also be taken against a few local police personnel in Bantwal for alleged dereliction of duty in allowing the racket to operate in their jurisdiction, the SP said.

The Bantwal Rural police have registered suo motu case against the 10 arrested persons for offences punishable under Sections 379, 417, 420 and 285 of the Indian Penal Code and Section 23 of the Petroleum Act. The police seized six tankers delivering bitumen, a tanker to which bitumen was being filled, weighing equipment, gas cylinder used to heat bitumen, and nine mobile phones.