Pune: Fuel Theft Racket Busted! Police Booked 12 People, Including Kingpin Pravin Madikhambe, Under the MCOCA Act
Pune: In a significant crackdown, Police Commissioner Amitesh Kumar has taken decisive action against 12 people, including Pravin Madikhambe, under the MCOCA Act who used to steal petrol and diesel from petrol and diesel tankers in Loni by stopping them on the way.
In this regard, police have arrested Shubham Sushil Bhagat (age 23, a resident of Borkar Vasti, Theur Phata, Taluka Haveli), Trushant Rajendra Sumbhe (age 31, a resident of Theur Phata, Taluka Haveli), Ravi Chhotelal Kevat (age 25, a resident of Borkar Vasti, Malimala, Taluka Haveli), Vishal Suresh Gosavi (age 30, a resident of Vanimala, Theur Phata, Taluka Haveli), Krushna alias Kiran Haribhau Ambekar (age 31, a resident of Kadamwak Vasti, Taluka Haveli), Rohit Kumar Cheddulal (age 25, a resident of Borkar Vasti, Malimala, Taluka Haveli), Abhiman alias Subhash Suresh Oval (age 35, a resident of Pandhari Road, Loni Kalbhor), Pandurang Nilkanth Nakate (age 42, a resident of Malimala, Loni Kalbhor), Akash Sukhdev Ghodke (age 24, a resident of Hanuman Nagar, Kothrud), and Tejas Tukaram Waghmare (age 23, a resident of New Shanti Nagar, Shravandhara, Kothrud).
However, the tanker driver and gang leader Pravin Sidram Madikhambe (a resident of Kadamwak Vasti, Taluka Haveli) is absconding.
Despite tankers being locked upon leaving HPCL and IOCL to prevent unauthorised fuel extraction after tankers go out of the company, the accused managed to divert three tankers to a shed behind the residence of Tukaram Dhumal, where they were syphoning off diesel and petrol using electrical motors. On getting the information about it, the Assistant Police Inspector Raju Mahanor and Police Constable Dhamdhere raided a shed in Kunjirwadi on September 10 and uncovered a large-scale fuel theft operation.
During the raid, police seized 1,620 litres of diesel and arrested 10 individuals involved in the crime. The gang leader of the operation, Pravin Madikhambe, is a notorious criminal in Loni with multiple complaints of fuel theft registered against him. He is believed to have orchestrated multiple fuel thefts across the region in the past 17 years.
Accordingly, the Loni Kalbhor Police prepared a proposal to take action against Pravin Madikhambe under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MOCCA). After that, it was submitted to Additional Commissioner of Police Manoj Patil through Deputy Commissioner of Police R Raja. After scrutinising this matter, Manoj Patil approved this proposal.
This action was taken by the team of Senior Police Inspector Rajendra Karankot, Assistant Police Inspector of Mundhwa Police Station Raju Mahanor, Police Sub-Inspector Amol Ghodke, Police Constable Ramhari Wanve, Mangesh Nanapure, Malhar Dhamdhere, Shivaji Jadhav, Sandeep Dhumal, Bajirao Veer, and Yogesh Patil under the guidance of Commissioner of Police Amitesh Kumar, Joint Commissioner of Police Ranjan Kumar Sharma, Additional Commissioner of Police Manoj Patil, Deputy Commissioner of Police R Raja, Deputy Commissioner of Police Nikhil Pingle, and Assistant Commissioner of Police Ashwini Rakh.
