Mangaluru: On January 13th, four individuals were arrested for stealing diesel from tankers at a yard in Bala village, Mangalore taluk, without the owners' knowledge. The accused were found to be illegally stockpiling the diesel. During a raid at the site, authorities discovered one of the suspects near a tanker, siphoning diesel from its lower tank and storing it in a nearby shed.
The arrested individuals are:
1. Santosh (42), residing in Kulaigudde.
2. Iron Ritesh Menezes (36), from Surathkal.
3. Narayan Praya (23), a tanker driver from Belthangady.
4. Ravi Janandra Putran (59), from Hejamady.
The authorities seized a total of 1,685 liters of diesel, 20 liters of petrol, along with other items and four mobile phones. The total value of the seized goods is approximately ₹2,00,000.
A case has been filed under Crime No. 05/2025, with charges under sections 287, 303(1) of the BNS Act 2023, as well as sections 3, 4, 5 R/W 23 of the Petroleum Products (Maintenance of Petroleum Storage and Supply Order) concerning the regulation of motor spirit and high-speed diesel, and sections 3 & 5 of the Essential Commodities Act. The investigation is currently ongoing.
The raid was conducted under the leadership of Police Commissioner Anupam Agrawal, with guidance from Siddharth Goyal, DCP (Crime & Security), and Ravi Shankar, DCP (Crime & Traffic). The operation was carried out by Srikanth K., Assistant Commissioner of Police (North Sub-Division), along with support from ASI Prakash Murthy, Udayakumar, Kumaraswamy, Halesh Naik, Sunil, Anand, Ashok, and Basavaraj.