LPG cylinders worth 17L stolen, truck abandoned

Jhansi: A truckload of 524 filled LPG gas cylinders worth over Rs 17 lakh went missing on Friday and were feared stolen. The empty truck was found abandoned, while the cylinders could not be found till Sunday.According to a complaint lodged by truck owner, Neeraj Kumar Agarwal, resident of New Roy Ganj, Sipri Bazar, his trucks were outsourced by Bharat Petroleum to ferry refilled LPG cylinders from their plant at Karari on Gwalior Road to various destinations.
One of his trucks was loaded with 524 cylinders on Mar 2 for Kanpur Dehat. The driver parked the vehicle outside the plant and went home for Holi. On Friday, Agarwal tracked GPS location of the truck, which was seen moving ahead of the plant. When he enquired with the driver, he was stunned to hear that the driver was at his home.After a frantic search, the truck was seen lying empty and abandoned near Paricha Thermal Power Plant on Kanpur Road and all cylinders were missing. The GPS device of the truck was also tampered. On Saturday, a case was lodged at Sipri Bazar police station against an unknown person for theft.According to SO Sipri Bazar police station Jai Prakash Chaubey, police were investigating the matter by tracing various CCTV footage and through surveillance, though no trace of the cylinders was found.Senior BPCL authorities, who did not want to be named, said they raised a demand note of Rs 17,35,051.50 against 524 filled cylinders that did not reach the destination since Mar 2, to the transporter, whose responsibility was to ferry the cylinders safely.