Belthangadi: 5 arrested for theft from diesel pipeline

Belthangadi: Dharmasthala police have apprehended five persons on charges of siphoning diesel worth Rs 9 lakhs from a pipeline in Puduvettu Village.

The accused have been identified as Dinesh Gowda (40) and Mohan (28) of Puduvettu village of Belthangadi taluk, Jaya Suvarna (39) resident of Nelyadi village of Kaukradi of Kadaba taluk, Dinesh (40) resident of Harehalli of Belur taluk of Hassan district, and Karthik (28) of Kadaba village of Kadaba taluk.

Police said that the accused were taken into custody at Nelyadi on April 1 and produced before the Belthangadi court, which remanded them to police custody for 4 days. On April 4, Belthangadi court remanded them to judicial custody for 14 days.

A Maruti 800 car, 100 liters of diesel, pipes, a drilling machine, a winding machine, and mobile phones used in the crime were seized from the accused, police said.

Case Details: 

In March, a complaint was filed at the Dharmasthala Police regarding the theft of petroleum products from the Petronet Pipeline at Puduvettu village. The complaint said that miscreants had drilled a hole into the HDPE pipeline near Puduvettu Village and stole approximately 12,000 liters of diesel between the night of March 16 and March 19.

The value of the stolen diesel was estimated to be Rs 9.6 lakhs. A case was registered at the Dharmasthla Polie Station in this regard.