When officials of the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) carried out checks on vehicles in Vadodara recently, there was a pleasant surprise in store. The pollution levels were found to be abysmally low as recorded during the last ten years. At roughly the same time, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Vadodara rural police were rummaging through separate files pertaining to the much talked about industrial diesel and solvent scams in Gujarat.For the cops who have carried out a two-month long investigation into the adulteration racket, the low level of pollutants recorded in the vehicles was a pointer to the environmental damage that has been caused since the last decade because of the use of solvent in petrol.The first clue to the multi-crore solvent racket was the seizure of a solvent laden tanker in Ahmedabad which came from a solvent company in Vadodara and heading towards a petrol pump in the Ahmedabad region. The Vadodara rural police then realised that they had a Rs 800 crore solvent scam on their hands.The solvent scam busting also brought to the fore the diversion of industrial diesel to petrol pumps in the state. The CBI teams led by a Superintendent of Police (SP) rank officer, Rajneesh Rai, also carried out raids on companies availing of industrial diesel. CBI officials have reportedly pegged the industrial diesel scam at about Rs 1,000 crore, and they also claim to have enough evidence to suggest the involvement of the PSU in selling oil.The two scams have thrown up an intricate businessmen-politician-criminal-police nexus. Investigations suggest that the adulteration was not confined to a particular region of Gujarat. The Additional Director General of Gujarat Police, Hiralal, in his missive to the Chairman of the Indian Oil Corporation, stated that almost 80 per cent of petrol pumps before the scam was busted were selling adulterated petrol.Central to the solvent and industrial scams are three Vadodara-based solvent manufacturing companies, Jal Hi Power, R S Petrochem and Paschim Petroleum. Their modus operandi was revealed only after the arrest of the owner of Jal Hi, Jayesh Thakkar.These companies had acquired licenses from the Union ministry of petrochemicals for manufacturing solvent. The companies were to manufacture the solvent for industrial units such as adhesives and paints. However, the solvent invariably headed towards the scores of petrol pumps in Gujarat as well as in neighbouring Maharashtra.The middlemen earned about Rs 30,000 per tanker of solvent, while the solvent manufacturers charged about Rs 5 per litre. ``In all, about 700 tankers were transported monthly. While the middlemen used to earn about 1.5 crore monthly, the companies made anything between 5-7 crore monthly,'' an officer said. Since the scam has been on since the last 10-12 years, the quantum of the scam would be in excess of 800 crore, the officer added.And to keep the operation under wraps, the operators cashed in on links with law enforcement officials as well as politicians. ``All the middlemen who have been arrested in connection with the scam have a criminal past. They acted as the link men,'' says Vadodara rural police chief, Vivek Srivastava, who headed the team of investigators.Dharmendrasinh Waghela and Mayurdwajsinh Parmar have emerged as key middlemen during the investigation. While Waghela is cooling his heals in prison, Parmar is still at large. Both of them have a criminal past. While Waghela was charged for assaulting a District Supplies Officer (DSO) in Anand, Parmar is accused in two murder cases in Junagadh. ``In both the murder cases, stakes in the petrol pump was the cause,'' says Jungadh police chief, Keshav Verma.According to official sources, several pumps in the state were found to be benami. ``The licenses are acquired in the name of a illiterate, poor person who is eligible for the pumps under some quota. The actual operations are carried out by others. The real owner, oblivious of what is going on, is given an `employment' in the same petrol pump,'' informs Srivastava.In the solvent scam probe, at least 100 odd benami petrol pumps have been identified, spread across Vadodara, Ahmedabad, Saurashtra and southern Gujarat. ``This minimises the risk. Even if the agencies find adulteration at a petrol pump, the real operator manages evades the trap,'' say Verma and Srivastava.How do the solvent manufacturers clean up their act? The petrol pump operators sends across the cash to the middlemen who then dispatches the money to owners of either non-existent companies or those who are running in losses. ``After receiving the money from the middle men, the so-called company owners issue a draft in favour of a solvent manufacturer. The solvent manufacturer then dispatches the consignment to the petrol pumps,'' explains Srivastava.The investigators have come across at least half a dozen Mumbai based companies from where the drafts where issued. These, like the Mumbai-based Wohar and Mayur Daftari as named in the FIR, ran fictitious companies which charge a 2 per cent commission. And companies like the loss-making Aries and Ami Petroleum charged Rs 5 per litre only as the quantum of risk for them was lower. The Mumbai end of the operation may also increase the likelehood of the solvent finding its way to petrol pumps in Maharashtra.Also crucial to the scam were the people in charge of mixing solvent with petrol. Gangaram Patil, formerly General Manager (Technical) with the Jal Hi, revealed to the police how perfect mixing was carried out. ``The density of solvent is .62 to.68 gms/cubic cms while that of petrol is .72 to .74 gms/cubic cms. By using a bit of benzene, the density of the solvent-petrol mixture got equated with the density of pure petrol,'' says Patil's interrogation report. Since the cost of fine rated solvent was just Rs 14 per litre, its mixing was financially beneficial.The entire operations remained under wraps, considering the links of the operators with politicians, police and the agencies in charge of the check mechanism, including the DSO and the Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) selling petrol. The main accused Thakkar is the brother-in-law of a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP while the middle man, Waghela is related to a local MLA from rural Vadodara. The owner of the R S Petrochem, Mohinder Singh, who is still at large, reportedly acquired the solvent licenses through an influential Delhi-based bureaucrat. Another accused, Brijesh Chauhan, who owns at least a dozen benami petrol pumps, is the son of Police Inspector Kabhai Chauhan, whose name also figures in a multi crore land scam.The political cover was necessary for ensuring the posting of government officials favorable to the operations and the police link was crucial for unhindered transportation of the solvent to the petrol pumps. A fact corroborated by ADG, Hiralal in his confidential letter to the IOC chairman.Smooth operators Jayesh Thakkar: Owner of Jal Hi power sold solvent to the petrol pumps as well as took care of the matching of density. In judicial custody. Mohinder Singh: Owner of R S Petrochem, sold solvent to petrol pumps. Absconding and reported to have been admitted in a Delhi hospital. Sonu Singh: Owner of Paschim petrol, alleged to have misused the solvent licenses by selling the solvent to petrol pumps. Dharmendrasinh Waghela: Middleman, charged 2 per cent commission from the manufacturers on each tanker sold to petrol pumps. In judicial custody. Brijesh Chauhan: Son of a railway police inspector, ran a chain of benami petrol pumps which sold adulterated petrol in the state. Gangaram Patil: Expert in matching the density of petrol and solvent, an associate of Thakkar. Presently in judicial custody.
