Jaipur: Two days after unearthing an elaborate diesel theft racket in Bagru area, city police Thursday said the alleged mastermind behind the operation—Shravan Singh alias Sardar—had a long criminal history and was previously booked in diesel theft cases across multiple states. These include FIRs in Mangliyawas and Arai police stations in Ajmer (2008), Gurgaon in Haryana (2011), various police stations in Jaipur including Chaksu (2012), Shivdaspura (2013 and 2015), Bawana in Delhi (2014), Pratapnagar (2014), Thanesar in Kurukshetra, Haryana (2015), Harmada in Jaipur (2019), and Kalwar (2021).Police said the names of Singh and his brother-in-law Dharmendra Verma alias Rinku, both of whom are absconding, were revealed during interrogation of the one individual arrested in the case, Rajesh Urang, 45, a native of Dibrugarh in Assam. Police arrested him Tuesday from a rented house in Bagru. A tunnel was dug from the house to tap directly into a Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) pipeline. The pipeline was punctured and fitted with valves to siphon diesel, which was then sold in the local black market.DCP (west) Amit Kumar said the racket was busted after HPCL officials detected abnormal pressure drops in the pipeline and alerted police on June 6. A team was formed and field surveillance over several days led them to the rented house. During the search, a tunnel of about 25 feet was found leading to the HPCL pipeline, equipped with a tap for extracting diesel.
