Two-month prep work, 40m tunnel: How accused in Indian Oil case carried out theft for weeks

Their investigation led police to a plot in Dwarka’s Pochanpur village where they found an underground tunnel hidden under a pile of fodder.

According to the chargesheet, the accused used a valve machine connected to two plastic pipes to extract oil by drilling a hole inside the pipeline. The accused would then load the oil on tractors, inside containers used to store wheat flour and gravel, to avoid suspicion.

The chargesheet says, “…A machine was installed to extract oil by making a hole in the government oil pipeline in which two plastic pipes were connected which were kept at the plot of Rakesh (the landlord) at a distance of around 40 meters by making a tunnel…”

It is learnt that on June 15, Rakesh had given the land to a person who identified himself as Naresh at a rent of Rs 30,000 per month. Rakesh did not take the trouble to get the tenant verified.

How the oil theft was detected

It is learnt that complaints of pressure drop began being received in the pipeline. On October 4, Indian Oil officials detected a pilferage at the IOCL Delhi-Panipat section.
The planning for the theft began in December 2022, when the main accused, Sudesh Gupta, who told Rakesh that his name was Naresh, zeroed in on a plot near the pipeline and opened a mechanic shop nearby.

“Sudesh met Rakesh under the name of Naresh Verma and asked about taking the plot on rent to do scrap and bottle work… two men, namely Muradi and Bobby, were called as they were experts in digging tunnels and making holes in pipelines and installing valves,” stated the chargesheet.

“The work was completed in 2.5 months after which they drilled the pipeline and installed the valve and started extracting oil,” stated the chargesheet.

One of the accused, Imran alias Mistri, the chargesheet stated, had welded an iron plate under the pipeline with a small welding machine while co-accused Ravi and Kale welded the pipeline with a special type of drill machine. “…drilling is done in such a way that as soon as that special drill machine is taken out after drilling the pipeline, there is a special type of rubber inside the spindle of that drill machine which is used to protect the pipeline and does not allow the oil to come out,” added the chargesheet.

They used to take the oil and diesel to a warehouse in Palwal, from where three of the accused, Sudesh, Rashid and Ram, used to further sell it to customers.

The chargesheet was filed in the Dwarka court earlier this month.