87-ton LPG ‘scam’ leads cops to bizman, son in Kolhapur

Mahasamund police have arrested the absconding owner and director of Thakur Petrochemicals from Kolhapur, Maharashtra, in connection with the alleged embezzlement of 87 tonnes of LPG valued at about Rs 77 lakh, officials said on Thursday.The accused were identified as Santosh Singh Thakur, 57, and his son Sarthak Singh Thakur, 27, residents of Shanti Vihar Colony in Raipur. Police said the duo was produced before the Chief Judicial Magistrate in Kolhapur on May 26, where investigators obtained a transit remand to bring them to Chhattisgarh. With their arrest, the total number of accused held in the case has risen to six.Investigators said the case exposed an alleged nexus involving government officials and private individuals. Police described Mahasamund district food officer Ajay Kumar Yadav as the prime conspirator, with Pankaj Chandrakar allegedly acting as the frontman to close deals and Manish Choudhary mediating between agencies to negotiate financial terms. The group initially demanded Rs 1.30 crore to execute the plan, later settling at Rs 90 lakh after negotiations, police said.According to the investigation, the conspiracy began on March 19, 2026, ahead of the official transfer of custody of LPG tankers. The accused allegedly bypassed standard weighing protocols to enable rapid offloading of LPG capsules. Between April 6 and April 8, after the capsules were emptied, fabricated weighing certificates were generated and signed as witnesses inside the food department office, police said.Police alleged the stolen LPG was sold without GST on cash memos to 20 private agencies and institutions at arbitrary rates, exploiting summer heat and emergency storage conditions. Records for April 2026 allegedly show sales of 135 tonnes against a legitimate purchase of 40 tonnes.The case traces back to December 24, 2025, when Singhoda police seized six LPG-filled capsule trucks under Crime No. 96/25. Due to safety concerns, the cargo was ordered shifted, and on March 30, 2026, food inspectors handed custody of the six tankers to Santosh Singh Thakur for storage at Thakur Petrochemicals in Urla, Raipur. Police said statements later indicated criminal breach of trust involving about 50 tonnes from three tankers and 37 tonnes from two tankers.A fresh case was registered on April 29, 2026, under BNS sections 316(3) and 3(5), with additional BNS sections and provisions of the Essential Commodities Act added as evidence of forgery, conspiracy and black marketing emerged. Police said four teams tracked the duo across multiple cities using tower dump data, CDR analysis, toll records, financial trails and social media inputs, leading to their arrest at New Chalukya Hotel in Kolhapur. Rs 20,000 cash was recovered from Santosh Singh Thakur, police said.