Tunnel to steal oil from IOC line found in Beawar, SOG to probe

Jodhpur: A tunnel 100 feet in length was found in Beawar district which connected an Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) pipeline of crude oil to a petrol pump through a half-inch pipe. The tunnel was found near Raipur on the Pali-Jaipur highway on Tuesday during a survey by officials of IOC to find a fault.
What the officials found, to their shock, was an elaborate arrangement to steal crude oil from the pipeline that stretches from Mundra in Gujarat to Panipat in Haryana.The officials had dug a pit at the location of the fault on Monday night and on Tuesday morning they discovered a valve connected to a nearby petrol pump’s tank.
The officials informed the police and lodged a report at Bar police station. The investigation of the matter has been handed over to the police’s special operations group (SOG). Circle officer at Jaitaran, Seema Chopra, said, “The investigation will now be done by the SOG. The case has been taken up by them.”
An IOC official said that a valve was mounted on the main IOC pipeline and a half-inch pipeline connected to the valve had been laid to the tank of the petrol pump.
“For this, a 4-foot-wide and 100-foot-long tunnel had been dug 10 feet below the ground,” said the official, adding that it is not known yet since when the theft of crude oil was taking place and how much crude, so far, had been stolen.
The petrol pump belonging to HPCL is located just 100 meters before the local police station. “The petrol pump had been closed for many years. About three months ago, the company allocated it to Rajendra Jain from Barmer, who rented it out to Akash Jain and Sohanlal Vishnoi,” said the IOC official. Police suspect that Jain and Vishnoi rented the pump with the intent to steal and sell crude oil from the IOC pipeline.